Uzumaki's Disciples
by Lord Lycaon
Summary: Three new genin have just acquired their new jonin sensei. Now, despite occasional tension, the three must work together to survive not just their ninja missions, but also their sensei's training.
1. Sensei

Ch-1: Sensei

The twelve-year-old boy glared at himself in his bedroom mirror. He wore a simple, white, long-sleeved shirt with red lines going down the sleeves along his arms, blue shorts, and a kunai holster on his right leg. His bright-red hair was a tangled mess, and his brown eyes glinted with wild determination. He tied his Leaf Village headband around his forehead. He smiled at himself. He looked good with that headband on.

He had graduated from the Academy the day before, and he was to be assigned to a three-man squad and get a jonin sensei. Needless to say, he was pumped.

"Show time," he said to himself. His name was Tai Yamada. And he was determined to become Hokage and find his missing father.

-o-

Arashi Jigoku was just waking up. He quickly got dressed in his usual black t-shirt, which had a flame-like symbol sewn into the right shoulder, and pulled on a pair of dark red pants. He combed out his jet black hair, which was nicely complimented by his steely, gray eyes. As he left the house, he looked to his older brother's room. Arashi was determined to become a shinobi, if only in the sheer hope that, in his travels, he would find a cure for his brother's condition.

"Brother," Arashi said, as if he were actually talking to his only living family. "I will become a great ninja. For both of us." He left the house, tying his headband onto his forehead.

-o-

Finally. The day has come. She would finally be an official ninja of the Village Hidden in the Leaves. She would've been even more excited if yesterday had gone better. Once again, her father, the head of the clan, simply berated her for not doing as well as her older brother.

But that didn't matter. Today, all that was going to change. Soon enough, she would have her father's respect and admiration. Today, Asa Mizuhana will become a powerful kunoichi. Just like her idol, Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage.

She put on her favorite yellow t-shirt and black pants that went surprisingly well with her silver hair and golden eyes. She strapped on her ninja gear and tied her headband around her neck. She looked in her mirror and put on a serious face. Then she left for the Academy.

Deep down, however, she was afraid.

-o-

"All right, everyone, settle down," a twenty-five-year-old Shikamaru said as his students just kept getting louder and louder. It was a total drag, but it was his job. And secretly, he loved it.

All the students were chattering away, obviously excited about today's meaning for them. Shikamaru understood how they felt, but it was getting annoying. He sighed and quickly made some hand signs. His shadow suddenly lengthened out and split apart, catching all of the students and holding them in place.

"All right," Shikamaru said somewhat innocently. "Now that I have your attention, I would like to get this over with so I can go home." He held up clipboard and began reading through it. He smirked and chuckled to himself. Three of these students were about to be put through hell. "All right, Team One..."

Shikamaru went through the list in that lazy way of his. Tai simply glared at him. He hated it when Shikamaru-sensei used that Shadow Possession Jutsu on him. He loathed being constrained and spent a lot of his time in the Academy being held down by that damn jutsu. He sighed in frustration. He had no choice but to sit and wait until...

"Team Nine will be..." Shikamaru said lazily. "Tai Yamada..."

Tai would've perked up at the mention of name. _It's about time,_ he thought.

"Asa Mizuhana..."

Asa blushed when she realized she would be on the same team as Tai. It was like a dream come true for her. _Who am I kidding?_ she thought sadly. _There's no way a guy like him would ever go for a girl like me._

"And..." Shikamaru paused for suspense. Both Tai and Asa leaned in curiously. "Arashi Jigoku."

Tai's face fell. He and Arashi never got along. Tai believed that the direct approach would always win over Arashi's method of stealth. The two of them glared over at each other. The whole room fell silent. Everyone knew of Tai and Arashi's rivalry. Some had even taken bets on which one would win in a fight. Shikamaru sighed and simply read off the last team.

"Tai, Asa, Arashi," Shikamaru said flatly. "The jonin assigned to your team will meet you at the Hokage Tower. You three should get going. He doesn't like people being late."

"Yes, sensei," the three of them said in unison. Tai and Arashi glared at each other. Asa was busy trying to figure out a way to get to the tower with a minimal level of bloodshed between her teammates.

-o-

They sat on the roof of the Hokage Tower, waiting for their new sensei. Asa looked between her two teammates, who were sitting on opposite sides of her with their backs turnedto each other. She sighed, and tried to come up with something to break the uncomfortable silence.

"What do you think our new sensei is going to be like?" she said finally.

"Hopefully, he won't be a stuck-up jackass like Arashi," Tai muttered.

"And hopefully, he will not be an idiotic fool like Tai," Arashi countered.

"What was that, flamer?"

"Just what I said, fool."

"Guys!" Asa said desperately. "Please, both of you, stop arguing! What if our sensei finds us fighting like this? Don't you want to make a good impression?"

"To hell with good impressions!" Tai shouted. He turned towards Arashi. "This guy's gonna get us flattened!"

"And your barbaric method of attacking head-on would certainly get us killed," Arashi replied calmly, though there was some level of venom in his words. "Our sensei would be wise to have you removed immediately."

"And why exactly would I do that?" said a fourth voice. The three genin looked to the source of the voice. Standing on top of one of the six spires atop the Hokage Tower was a tall, blonde and spiky-haired man wearing a white coat that had an orange flame design along the bottom of it. He leaped off the spire and landed right in front of them, smiling. His sharp, blue eyes were wild and filled with pride. On each cheek, he had three, whisker-like marks, almost like tattoos, or birthmarks. His outfit beneath his coat was a mostly black jumpsuit that was made up of a jacket that had a bright orange line running down along the zipper and black pants. His Leaf headband glinted in the sunlight.

"Tell me, exactly why I should get rid of guy just because he's got spunk?" the man asked.

"He is a fool who only graduated through sheer luck," Arashi replied simply, as if it should be plainly obvious.

"Hey!" Tai yelled out indignantly. "If anybody should be kicked of this team, it's you!"

The man simply chuckled, thinking, _Just like old times._ "Both of you, shut the hell up. I would like to get started already, if you don't mind."

"What do you mean?" Asa asked.

"Well," the man said. "We're going to get to know each other. Tell me about yourself. Your name, likes, dislikes, dreams for the future. That kind of stuff."

"Why don't you go first?" Tai asked. "I mean, like, just to demonstrate?"

"Well," the blonde said. He walked over to the railing along the roof. On the back of his coat was a red spiral between his shoulder blades. Beneath that was the kanji for...

_Fox?_ Asa thought. _That's a little… random._ The man turned back to the three genin and leaned against the railing.

"I'm Naruto Uzumaki," he said with a smirk. "I like ramen, this village, my friends, and love my wife. I hate people who use their power to hurt others, regardless of their reasons. And my dream for the future..." He looked up to the Hokage Monument above the tower, smiling once again. "Is to become the greatest Hokage this village has ever seen."

Tai raised an eyebrow at that. Asa gave the blonde a curious glance. Arashi simply stared at the man. How could he hope to become Hokage when he obviously didn't even take being a jonin seriously? That made no sense to the young Jigoku.

"Now you try it," Naruto said with a grin. "Lady's first."

Asa gulped nervously and said, "I'm Asa Mizuhana. I like all my friends from the Academy. I hate know-it-alls and liars. My dream for the future is to become the best kunoichi in the whole Leaf Village."

"Very admirable," Naruto said. "Next-" Tai stood up before Naruto could finish.

"The name's Tai Yamada!" he blurted out with a confident smile. "I like my mom and hanging out with my friends. I hate guys who think they're all that just because they get good marks on tests! And my dream for the future is to beat everyone and become Hokage! So get in line, Goldilocks!"

_Deja vu,_ Naruto thought, remembering his last group of genin. "Thank you, Tai." He looked over at Arashi. "Now you, cool guy."

"I am Arashi, of the Jigoku Clan. The only thing in this world I actually care for is my elder brother, Sora. I dislike arrogant fools who rush into dangerous situations without careful thought. My dream for the future… is none of your business. That is all I have to say."

_He reminds me of Sasuke,_ Naruto thought. "All right. Now that we all know each other a little better, I suppose it's time for me to tell you about the final test."

"Final test?" Asa asked.

"Yes," Naruto replied. "Your final test to become official shinobi of the Village Hidden in the Leaves."

"But we already had a test yesterday!" Tai complained.

"That was just to make sure that you're actually competent enough to be ninja," Naruto stated with a serious expression. "The test you three are about to go through is going to be far more intense. It's even got a 66% rate of failure. Of the thirty students who were awarded Leaf headbands, at the most, at most only nine of you will be able to actually become ninja. The rest will have to go back to the Academy for remedial instruction."

"What!?" all three shouted at once. Asa continued, "But that's not fair! You can't do that!"

"I've done it four times already," Naruto said flatly. "All tests depend on the actual teacher. It can be whatever I say it is." Just then, a bird-like sound was heard. Next to Naruto landed a dark blue-feathered raven with something tied to its leg. Naruto picked up the bird and untied the object, which was a small piece of paper. He read the paper, smiled, and tucked it away. He pulled out a strange-looking kunai, which the bird picked up in its feet. The raven then flew off at lightning speeds.

"Well, the wife beckons," Naruto said contently. "Anyway, I want you three to meet me at Training Ground 3 at five in the morning. Oh, and don't bother eating breakfast."

"Why not?" Arashi asked with genuine curiosity.

"Because," Naruto said with a disturbingly happy and mischievous smile on his face. "If you do, odds are that you'll end up puking your guts out." Then he suddenly vanished in an instantaneous flash of yellow. No puff of smoke. Just a yellow flash.

"Dude!" Tai shouted. "How did he do that!?"

"I don't know," Asa said in wonder. Then she shuddered. "I just hope he was kidding about that puking thing." Regardless of her hopes, she decided she would _not_ eat breakfast the next day.

-o-

Naruto arrived at his house out of thin air. There was that raven again, still holding his kunai. The bird disappeared with a loud pop and a puff of smoke. Naruto picked up his kunai, put it back into his pouch, and walked into his home.

"You called, Hinata?" he asked. Out of the kitchen walked a pregnant Hinata, holding their one-year-old son, Minato. She smiled brightly at her husband.

"We just wanted to see you, Naruto," Hinata said happily. "So, what are your new students like?"

"Just like the others, with a few minor differences," Naruto sighed. He walked over to his wife, knelt down and put a hand on her stomach. "I can't wait for our new family member to come out. Just a few more months."

"Six-and-a-half, to be specific," Hinata corrected. "I'm eager to meet our new child, too. With any luck, our second child will be as strong and brave as you, Naruto."

"Yeah," Naruto said with his trademark grin. "And hopefully the kid will be as kindhearted as you are." He looked to his one-year-old son. He held out his finger, which Minato happily took hold of. "Hey, little guy. Did you miss your old man?" The small family spent the rest of their day together, while Naruto's students barely had any sleep, terrified about what he planned to put them through.


	2. The Bell Test

Ch-2: The Bell Test

Tai, Asa, and Arashi all arrived at the training ground at roughly five in the morning. Their stomachs were begging for nourishment, but the constant growling went on ignored. They all sat by a trio of wooden poles stuck in the ground, waiting for their sensei.

Half an hour later, and they were still waiting. Tai had decided to get a quick nap, which actually proved quite difficult on an empty stomach.

Four hours later. Tai and Arashi were having a glaring contest. Asa sighed in boredom.

"Where the hell is he!?" Tai screamed in frustration and leaned back against one of the posts. "It's been two hours!"

"To be so late is disgraceful for a shinobi," Arashi stated. "He must be told how late he is."

"Come on, guys," Asa said. "Maybe he's just busy. I'm sure he'll be here any minute." And as if on cue, Naruto was seen walking toward them with a dark-haired, pregnant woman by his side. Her eyes were a pale shade of lavender, and her skin was fair. She seemed to glow slightly in the sunlight.

"Hey, everybody!" he said in a chipper tone. "Sorry we're late! We got lost on the way here!"

"THAT'S COMPLETE BULL, YOU LIAR!" Tai accused. Then he looked to the woman questioningly. "And who's the fat chick?" Suddenly, a kunai embedded itself into the post he was standing in front of, just an inch from his head. He looked over to Naruto, who's outraged expression sent a chill down his spine.

"She's not fat," Naruto said angrily. "She's pregnant. Insult my wife again, and next time…" He smiled stupidly. "…I won't miss." Tai couldn't apologize enough.

"You're really pregnant?" Asa asked the woman, who smiled brightly. "That's great! You must be so excited!"

"I am," the woman said happily. "But nowhere near as excited as Naruto. I'm Hinata, by the way."

"I'm Asa Mizuhana," Asa replied with a slight bow. She motioned to Tai and Arashi to introduce themselves.

"Tai Yamada."

"Arashi Jigoku."

"Well, Asa, Tai, Arashi," Hinata said, still smiling. "It's very nice to meet you all. And don't mind my being here. I just like watching Naruto train with his new students. I wish you the best of luck." Hinata walked over to a nearby tree and sat down at its trunk. _You're all going to need it._

"All right," Naruto said. "Now that we're finished with introductions, let me explain the test." he produced a pair of small bells. "It's simple, really. All you have to do is try to get a hold of one of these bells by whatever means you deem necessary, and do it before noon. Two hours from now."

"Ha!" Tai shouted. "Piece of cake!"

Asa raised her hand and said, "But, Naruto-sensei, there are only two bells."

"Yes," Naruto said with a mischievous grin. "Do you know what that means?" Asa thought about it for a second. Her eyes widened in realization.

"It means..." she said hesitantly. "One of is going to fail, doesn't it?"

"Ding, ding, ding! We have a winner!" Naruto said happily. "One of you will not be able to get a bell. If you fail the test, you go straight back to the Academy for remedial training."

"What!?" Tai shouted. "Come on, that's not fair! I've never even heard of a graduate squad with only two genin!"

"It's rare, but not impossible," Naruto stated. "Anyway, you have your mission. Get a bell before noon, and you pass. We'll begin on my signal."

Asa gulped nervously. Tai got in a ready stance. Arashi stood up and prepared to move.

"Oh!" Naruto said, suddenly remembering something. "One more thing. Hinata has prepared four bentos for us. One for her, one for me, and one for each person who gets a bell. Whoever doesn't have a bell by noon will be tied to one of those three posts and will go without lunch."

"WHAT!?" all three replied in unison. Tai continued, "But you told us not to eat breakfast!"

"Precisely."

"Sneaky bastard," Tai muttered under his breath.

"All right," Naruto said calmly. "On my signal. Ready... set..." The three genin braced themselves. "Go!"

And the test began.

Naruto stood in the middle of the training ground with Hinata watching. She looked around quickly.

_They've hidden themselves well,_ she thought. _They may be able to succeed if-_

Hinata's thoughts were interrupted when an overeager Tai shouted, "All right, Blondie! You and me, one-on-one! Right here, right now!"

Hinata sweat dropped and thought, _Well, no team is complete without its local wild child, I suppose._

Naruto sighed and said, "Kid, you gotta work on a little thing called subtlety. Besides, you're no match for me one-on-one."

"Ha! Is that what you think?" Tai stated as he charged toward Naruto. "I'll beat you to a pulp and grab BOTH of those bells!"

Naruto sighed again as he jumped over Tai's rush. He landed on his feet and said, "Fine. It's your funeral, kid." He reached into his weapon pouch. "Here's lesson one: taijutsu."

_Taijutsu?_ Tai thought. _That's hand-to-hand combat, isn't it? So why is reaching for a weapon?_ Naruto then pulled out... a simple notebook and pen. He opened the notebook, thought for a moment, and started writing.

"What the hell?" Tai asked with a confused expression. "What are you doing?"

"I'm writing, genius," Naruto said flatly. "I'm making a novel. I've got to write an ending to it eventually, don't I? You can attack me whenever you feel like it."

Infuriated, Tai charged at Naruto again. Just as Tai got close, however, Naruto vanished in a puff of smoke. Tai looked around left and write, thinking, _Where the hell did he go?_

In a nearby bush, Asa looked on as Tai faced off against Naruto-sensei. The tall blonde had taken out a notebook and was writing when Tai rushed towards him. Naruto had vanished and reappeared behind Tai, crouching. Her eyes widened when she saw that he was performing the tiger hand sign.

_He's going to use a jutsu!_ she thought. "Tai, behind you!" Tai turned around, all too late.

"Leaf Village Secret Finger Jutsu!" Naruto yelled out with an evil glare in his eyes. The next thing Tai knew, he felt a stabbing pain and went flying, holding his hindquarters in agony. With that, Naruto yelled, "A Thousand Years of Death!"

_He... poked him?_ Asa thought with some confusion. _In the butt? Is this guy for real?_

_Oh, Naruto,_ Hinata thought. _Only you and Kakashi would use _that_ technique._

_They're both such idiots!_ Arashi thought with distaste. Tai scrambled back to his feet, anger and frustration evident in his eyes. _He angers too easily._

"What the hell was that!?" Tai yelled, pointing at Naruto accusingly.

"That was a taijutsu technique I learned from own sensei about thirteen years ago," Naruto said as he continued writing.

"Screw that! You shoved your fingers up my ass, you freak!"

"Hmm." Naruto tapped his chin with his pen completely ignoring Tai's raging. "What's a good name for an arrogant, idiotic brat who challenges his teacher to fight him one-on-one? Oh, I got it!" Naruto scribbled something into his notebook and said, "Tai... Yamada."

Tai's eye twitched in anger, and he said, "All right, that's it!" He charged blindly forward, then suddenly found himself tied to one of the poles. "What the hell? How did you...?" Naruto was gone. "Dammit!"

_Oh no! Tai's caught!_ thought Asa. She turned quickly. _I have to find Arashi. He might be able to-_ Her thoughts were interrupted when she saw Hinata standing in front of her, performing a hand sign.

"Naruto's not very good with this next lesson," Hinata said, smiling sweetly. "So he lets me take care of it. Lesson two: genjutsu." The pregnant woman vanished slowly in a swirl of wind and leaves. Asa suddenly felt as though she were floating. When that sensation ended, she looked around worriedly.

"Hello?" she said carefully.

"A-Asa," she heard Tai's voice. She turned excitedly, hoping to see him smiling. But what she saw would scar her for life. Kunai and shuriken were stuck in his back, and he was bleeding profusely from a multitude of wounds. His right arm was missing, and his left leg bent the wrong way, with his foot twisted backwards. "H-help... me..."

She couldn't hold it in. She screamed in sheer panic and fainted.

"Do you think I went a little overboard?" Hinata said. She and Naruto were standing, hidden by a nearby bush.

"Who knows?" Naruto shrugged. "As long as she's out cold, I don't really mind what you did with that genjutsu. All I know is that you did great, as usual. Remind me again to thank Kakashi for teaching you that technique."

"Why, thank you, Naruto, and of course," Hinata smiled. She checked her watch. "There's about an hour left in the test."

"All right," Naruto said as he stretched his legs. "You go rest for a bit. I'm gonna go find that other kid."

Arashi leaped from tree to tree, trying to find Naruto so that he could get one of those bells. Then he heard a scream.

_That sounded like Asa,_ he thought. _Hmph. She probably got hit with his "taijutsu" like Tai did._ He landed out in a clearing and looked around. Soon, he noticed he wasn't alone.

"Naruto-sensei," he said flatly.

"Hey, kid," Naruto said with a smirk. "I guess by now you've realized you're the only one left, right?"

"Yes. But I will not lose. I am not like the other two."

"I know. Shikamaru told me about you. You were at the top of your class in the Academy, though your teamwork skills could use a little polishing."

"I work alone," Arashi said with stern look. "I don't need others to help me. They only get in the way."

Naruto chuckled a little and said, "Well then, why don't we get this over with? Lesson three: ninjutsu. One of our most invaluable traits."

Immediately, Arashi flew through some hand signs, reared back, and yelled, "Fire Style: Dragon's Breath!" He shot forward and spat out a wide stream of fire. Naruto leaped out of the way and went through his own hand signs.

"Wind Style: Shredding Vortex!" Arashi was swallowed up in a tornado and cut in multiple minor locations. He was thrown out of the vortex and landed with a thud, but recovered quickly. But then, he saw that Naruto was nowhere in sight.

_Where did he-_ Arashi's thoughts were interrupted when he felt something on his ankle. He looked down and saw a hand grabbing onto him. "What the-!"

"Earth Style: Headhunter Jutsu!" yelled Naruto's voice as he pulled Arashi down to his neck into the ground. Soon, Naruto was standing with his arms crossed over the helpless Arashi Jigoku, a smirk plastered on his face. "Well, I guess you're not as good as you thought, huh?"

"Be quiet," Arashi said with an embarrassed look on his face. "I simply did not expect you to use a jutsu like that conjunction with Wind Style. I was surprised. That is all."

Naruto sighed and said, "Man, I can already tell it's gonna be hard getting through to you." He quickly checked his watch. "Three... two... one. Congratulations. It's noon now. I'll see you at the posts."

"Wait!" Arashi yelled, suddenly panicked. "Aren't you going to dig me out?"

"You're smart. Figure it out yourself." And with that, Naruto walked off.

"Damn you," Arashi muttered.

Later, Tai glared at Naruto from the post he was tied to. Arashi simply looked away, slightly ashamed. Asa was still trying to get the image of a half-dead Tai out of her mind. Naruto and Hinata stood over them. Hinata was holding four bento boxes.

Finally, Naruto said, "That was just pathetic."

"Of course it was," Arashi said calmly. "We are merely genin. What chance do we have against a full-fledged jonin?"

Hinata sighed. "Naruto, go ahead and tell them what the test is really about."

"What it's really about?" Asa asked, curious. "What do you mean?"

"This test was never about whether or not you could get a bell," Naruto said matter-of-factly. "It's about something every shinobi should know about."

"And what would that be?" Tai asked with a glare.

"Teamwork," Naruto stated. "You should've all come at me at once, as a team. At least then you would've at least had a chance to get the bells off of me."

"But there were only two bells!" Tai shouted. "Even if worked together, one of us would've still failed!"

"Will just shut up and listen?" Naruto said with some irritation. _Was _I_ this stupid, too?_ "The test was purposely set up to turn you three against each other. Hunger and lack of sleep can be very powerful motivators for self-preservation. But if you three had worked as a team, regardless, I would've passed all of you."

"But, sensei," Asa said. "You said that-"

"I know what I said. As a ninja, you must be able to read between lines that lie between the lines." Naruto sighed. He motioned for Hinata to give the two untied students their lunches. "Asa, Arashi, enjoy your lunch." He turned to leave with his wife, but stopped. "And if you give Tai anything to eat at all, you will face severe consequences. I'm willing to give you three a second chance. I'm taking Hinata back to the house. When I get back, we'll try again."

"Yes, sensei," Arashi and Asa said at the same time while Tai had a priceless, "that's not fair" expression on his face. Soon, Naruto and Hinata disappeared behind the brush and trees.

Sixty seconds later, Tai's stomach was roaring. Asa wanted to help him somehow, to give him some of her food, but she knew she wasn't allowed to. Once again, Tai's stomach growled.

Arashi sighed, held his food up to Tai, and said, "Here. Eat. Quickly."

"What?" Tai asked, clearly dumbfounded.

"Arashi!" Asa shouted in shock. "What if Naruto-sensei finds out? We'll be punished!"

"We need all the energy we can get," Arashi sighed. "If one of us is distracted by anything, hunger included, we will be less effective as a unit. And besides, Tai's stomach is starting to get on my nerves."

Asa looked to Arashi, then to Tai. She looked down to her food. She picked some up with her chopsticks and held it out for Tai to eat.

"Here," she said quietly. "Quick. Before he gets back."

Tai smiled and said, "Thanks, Asa!" Then he took a bite. Suddenly, the woods seemed to erupt, and Naruto appeared in front of them with an enraged expression.

"You!" he yelled angrily. "You have broken the rules!"

Arashi immediately shot up and got into a battle stance. Asa stood and pulled out a kunai.

"We will not be scared off!" Arashi proclaimed. "We are Team Nine! We will not back down!"

"You don't scare us!" Asa shouted. "We won't give up! We will become shinobi!"

"Yeah!" Tai yelled out. _Dammit! They took all the good lines!_

Naruto sneered in anger and said, "You have broken the rules that I have laid down! And now..." He paused for a moment, and then smiled happily. "You pass."

"W-what?" Asa said, blinking in confusion.

"Pass?" Arashi said. Apparently, for the first time in his life, he had found someone he couldn't quite get a proper read on. "But you just said that we broke your rules! And you're passing us?"

"Of course!" Naruto said, still smiling.

"But..." Tai said completely and utterly dumbfounded. "Wait... you..."

"Like I said," Naruto stated. "This was to test whether you could work on a team properly. You have to read between the lines that lie between the lines."

"But we-" Arashi started, but Naruto raised his hand to stop him.

"You broke the rules, I know. Let me tell you something that my own sensei told me when I was your age." He turned around a walked for a few feet, and then stopped. "'Those who break the rules are trash. But those who do not care and watch out for their teammates are lower than trash.' As long as it leads to helping your friends and allies, you can break every rule in the book, save for a few key ones."

"Then why didn't anyone else pass your test?" Tai asked.

"Because," Naruto said as he turned back to them with a serious expression. "They simply couldn't bring themselves to break the rules at the risk of failing. They just let their teammates suffer. You guys, however, actually helped your incapacitated teammate, even at the potential price you would have to pay." He paused for a moment, giving the students time to let that sink in.

"So..." Asa said carefully. "We... we really passed?"

Naruto smiled, gave them an over-dramatic thumbs up, and said, "Yes. Congratulations, Team Nine!" Asa whooped, Arashi actually smiled, and Tai screamed with sheer joy. "C'mon, team; let's go get something to eat to celebrate! I know a great ramen place!"

After getting Tai down from the pole (Naruto had told them he had ended up on that pole himself), they walked off. Hinata soon joined them with her usual happy smile.

_Maybe they have some potential after all,_ Hinata thought. She held her stomach tenderly. _I really do hope that Minato and this one get it on the first try... and that they don't end up tied to a pole._

-o-

Meanwhile, just beyond the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice.

"My Lord," said a masked man. "We have found the scroll. It currently lies within the Hidden Leaf Village."

"I see," hissed a second man. "Soon, we will have it. And with its power..." He chuckled lightly to himself. "Soon, even the mighty Nine-Tailed Fox will bend to my will."


	3. A Simple C-Rank

Ch-3: A Simple C-Rank

"This is Team Leader to Storm Child," said Naruto through a radio communicator. "Do you have the target in sight?"

"Yes," replied Arashi's voice. "Target located."

"All right," Naruto said. "Team Leader to Wild Eyes and Flower Girl. Do you copy?"

"Wild Eyes, ready when you are, sensei," said Tai's voice.

"Flower Girl, in position," said Asa's voice. At first, she was hesitant at being called "Flower Girl," but quickly changed her mind when Tai said that it made her sound cute.

"All right," Naruto said. "On three. One... two... three!"

Asa, Tai, and Arashi leaped out and pounced on a helpless little dog. Tai quickly scooped the dog up in his arms and shouted, "I got him! I got him!"

"Identify subject," Naruto said.

"The dog's collar has a tag that reads 'wolf,'" Arashi confirmed. "Target acquired, Naruto-sensei."

"Good work, guys. Mission complete. Time to report back."

"GOOD! I'M SICK AND TIRED OF THESE DAMN D-RANKS!" Tai yelled over the radio, making Naruto's ears ring for several seconds.

Naruto sighed and thought, _Please, God, tell me I wasn't like that._

Back at the Academy, a wealthy, albeit strange-looking, fat man practically crushed the poor dog in his arms.

"Oh, thank you, little ninja!" the man said in an effeminate voice. The little dog whimpered with a look of desperation on his face. "Oh, my little Wolfie! How I missed you so!"

"Geez," Tai said. "No wonder that dog ran away." Surprisingly, Arashi nodded in agreement.

"Poor thing," Asa said quietly.

_Once again,_ Naruto thought. _Deja vu._

"All right, Team Nine," said Tsunade, the Fifth Hokage. "You have three other missions you can choose from. You can help plow the fields on a nearby farm, clean up some graffiti, or-"

"NO!" Tai shouted indignantly. "No more crappy D-rank missions! We've been official ninja for at least a month, but all you have us do is boring farming, crappy babysitting, and lame-ass lost-pet searches! Give us something that gives us a challenge, Grandma!" Tai immediately received a hard bonk on the head by his sensei. "OW! Naruto-sensei, what the hell was that for?"

"Idiot!" Naruto yelled. "Don't call her 'Grandma!'"

"But you do it all the time, sensei!"

"That's different," Tsunade said. There was some mild anger in her voice. "Naruto and I go way back. And I don't know a damn thing about you, kid." She then smiled sweetly. "And if you call me 'Grandma' one more time, I will utterly shatter every bone in your body, use my medical prowess to heal you, and do it again. Ten times over. Understand?" She said all that with a sweet smile, but from the tone of her voice, she was dead serious. Needless to say, Tai shut himself up.

"Lady Hokage," Arashi said calmly and carefully. "I hate to say it, but I actually agree with Tai. I personally believe that we are ready for more challenging missions."

Tsunade eyed the three genin. She looked to Asa, who nodded in agreement with her teammates, albeit rather nervously. Tsunade sighed and said, "Naruto, what do you think?"

Naruto looked to his students. Tai and Arashi looked to him hopefully. Asa shared the expression. _I have the strangest feeling that I'm going to regret this._ "I believe they're ready. Besides, it'd be good for them to get out of the village for a while, if only to see what the rest of the world is like."

Tsunade nodded. "Okay then. I'll assign Team Nine a C-rank mission. Now, let's see." She rummaged through some of the mission scrolls. She found one and smiled. "Here you go." She tossed the scroll over to Naruto, who opened it and began reading.

"A delivery mission, huh?" he said.

"A delivery mission?" Tai copied. "Oh, come on! That sounds so boring!"

"This is no ordinary package you'll be delivering, kid," Tsunade stated. "It's very valuable scroll."

"Scroll?" Tai's eyes lit up. "What's in this scroll? Some kind of super awesome jutsu?"

"Apparently, they don't even know," Naruto said, closing up the mission scroll. "When it was handed over to the village three years ago, the client specifically asked that it never be opened, but now he wants it back."

"Yes," Tsunade nodded. "The client's name is Hiro Nagano. He's a noble who lives near the border between the Land of Fire and the Land of Rice. Three years ago, he personally delivered his scroll to me, and said to keep it safe. I don't know why he wants it back though. As far as I know, it's only worth is its sheer value, although very few even know of its existence. Those few being Hiro, myself, and a handful of trusted ANBU."

"How much is this scroll worth?" Asa asked curiously.

"Twice as much as Naruto's necklace." Tsunade replied. Naruto's dumbfounded expression caught the three genin by surprise.

"Necklace?" Arashi asked.

After regaining his cool, Naruto pulled out his necklace, which was hidden under his jacket. "With this one piece of jewelry, you can buy three gold mines and the mountains on top of them." The three genin shared utterly shocked expressions. Naruto continued. "To think that some scroll is worth twice that. It's unbelievable. And this is a C-rank mission?"

"Not many outside this village even know it exists, let alone where it is," Tsunade replied. "In his message, Hiro said that it doesn't require too strong a guard. Three genin and a jonin should work just fine for this."

"When do we go?" Naruto asked.

"Tomorrow at nine," Tsunade stated. "Each of you, get a good night's sleep. You've got a ways to go."

Later, Asa returned home, still taking in the details of her team's next mission. _We need to deliver a near-priceless scroll that almost nobody knows about to its original owner,_ she thought. _It shouldn't be too hard. So why do I feel so nervous?_

She entered her home, the Mizuhana house, and immediately mentally prepared herself for her daily berating by her father. She found him in the dining room, reading an old family scroll.

"You are late," said Kurodo Mizuhana flatly. He didn't even bother to look up from his scroll. "Explain yourself."

_Once again, not even a simple "hello."_ she thought. "I'm sorry, Father. My team had to go over the details of our next mission."

"I do not see why that would take so long," Kurodo said with some annoyance. "The only missions you could possibly ever get are time-wasting D-ranks." Asa flinched at that. Time-wasting. She knew that that's what he thought of her. A living waste of time, space, and effort.

"My team was assigned a C-rank mission today, Father," Asa said in hopes that he would at least put down the scroll. Apparently, there really is such a thing as dreaming too big.

"I see," he said flatly, as if he weren't the least bit impressed. "Why a team with you on it would be chosen for a C-rank mission, I have no idea. Ryuichi's team would have been a much better choice." Again, Asa flinched at the mention of her older brother. Mr. Perfect. "Go to bed. If you really are to go on a C-rank mission, you will need the rest."

Asa nodded and went to her room. Her father couldn't possibly care less about her. Her mother, the only person who had ever shown Asa any love at all, had died during a mission seven years ago. She had been at the mercy of her father and brother ever since.

_Why does everyone in my family hate me?_ she thought to herself for the thousandth time.

"Here is the scroll that you're to deliver to Hiro," Tsunade said as she handed Naruto a small, intricately-designed box. They were at the gate preparing to leave. Tai, Asa, and Arashi were standing just outside the gate, waiting for their sensei to give the order to move. "Be very careful, Naruto. Anybody who knows about this scroll would likely do just about anything to get their hands on it. Keep an eye out."

"Geez, I'm twenty-five, but you treat me like I'm six," Naruto said with a smile. "Don't worry Grandma, we'll be all right."

"Just make sure they don't do anything too stupid," Tsunade smirked. "So basically, just make sure that they don't do anything you would."

"Oh, come on," Naruto groaned. He looked to his wife, who had come with their son to see him off. "I'll be back, soon, Hinata." He tousled his son's dark hair. "You just make sure Minato behaves himself." Minato giggled and flashed his big, pale-lavender eyes.

"Don't worry, Naruto," Hinata said with a kind smile. "He'll be good. Won't you, Minato?" The one-year-old boy giggled again.

"Yo, Naruto-sensei!" Tai called. "We going or not? That scroll's not gonna deliver itself, you know!"

"I'm coming, I'm coming!" Naruto called back. He looked back to his wife and hugged her tightly. "I'll see you later, Hinata." And with that, he went to join his students. He promptly bonked Tai on the head for interrupting his family moment.


	4. Dark Revelations

"You know, sensei," Asa said with a smile. "I just can't get over how adorable your son is." Naruto had introduced his students to baby Minato a few days after they had met. When the genin asked about who took care of the child while the parents were running the bell test on the students, they were assured that an old friend was watching him.

"He's just lucky he takes so much after his mother," Naruto responded jokingly. "At least he doesn't have to worry too much sharing my ugly mug!"

"Sensei, you're not ugly," Tai stated. "At most, you're average."

"Gee, thanks," Naruto said sarcastically with a glare directed towards the young genin. He looked over to Arashi. "You've been pretty quiet."

Arashi shrugged. "I guess I just don't have much to say at the moment. I am currently focused entirely on the mission."

"Boring!" Tai blurted. "Come on! Even for you, Arashi, that's so dull!" He was promptly smacked upside the head by his sensei. "Ow! What was that for?"

Meanwhile, a pair of men hid in the trees. They were watching the quartet of Leaf ninja from the shadows.

"Who'd a thunk we'd end up finding the Nine-Tails jinchuriki, along with that scroll?" said one man, Gozu.

"He was one of those brats with Kakashi thirteen years ago," said the other man, Meizu. "The ones who were guarding that old bridge builder. Tazuna, I think his name was."

"This is going to be the perfect payback for what happened all those years ago," Gozu stated with an evil chuckle.

"Yeah," Meizu agreed. "Let's get them now!" He prepared to jump out, but Gozu stopped him.

"Be patient, brother," Gozu said calmly. "The boss was very clear that we are only to make sure that they bring the scroll on time. We'll get them soon." Then the Demon Brothers leaped to the next tree, keeping an eye on their prey.

The four from the Leaf Village were keeping a steady pace. By the time night came, they were already a full twenty miles from home. They set up camp in a small clearing in the forest, and prepared to sleep for the night.

"Excuse me, sensei?" Asa asked.

Naruto turned to her and said, "What is it?"

"I've always been kind of curious," she said. "And I'm sorry if I offend you, but why do you have those weird whisker marks on your cheeks? No one else in the village has them."

"Oh," Naruto said as he rubbed his cheek. "Well... that's kind of private." Asa was about to say something, but he stopped her. "I'm not offended. It's only natural that you'd be curious. It's just something that I don't feel comfortable talking about."

"Oh," Asa said. "I'm sorry, sensei."

"It's all right, Asa. Let's just get some sleep." And with that, the blonde rolled over on his spot and instantly fell asleep.

Asa sighed through her nose and muttered, "Goodnight."

Asa had had weird dreams before. Especially when she was little. But nothing compared to this. The moment she fell asleep, she woke up again, but now, she was in what looked like a massive sewer system. The water on the floor seemed clean enough, though, but something about seemed... off.

Asa walked down the gigantic corridor. She had never had a dream like this before. She could see every little detail, hear every little water droplet hit the floor, and smell the horrible stench wafting from the walls.

_Where am I?_ she thought. Then she heard shouting.

"Just shut up, you damn fox!" yelled a familiar voice. She ran to the direction she had heard it from. Then there was another voice.

**You dare to insult me with such vulgarity, human?** boomed a far deeper, more menacing voice. Asa stopped dead in her tracks. Those few words from that terrible voice were enough to fill her with sheer terror. The baritone reverberated throughout the halls, intensifying the sound. But Asa gulped down her fears. From the tone of that second voice, her sensei was in trouble. She knew she had to help.

She continued running until she entered a massive chamber that dwarfed the corridors behind her. Ahead of her stood her sensei, who stood before an enormous cage with a single seal placed on it. Behind the bars of the prison stood a fox of biblical stature.

**You will destroy that damnable scroll!** the fox bellowed. **If you do not, we will both be in danger!**

"Like I'd ever believe you about some stupid scroll," Naruto retorted. "Like Tsunade said, it's only worth is its value."

**And just why do think that scroll is so valuable? It is a tool of unimaginable power. The only one of its kind. It must be destroyed!**

"Forget it, fox."

The fox growled angrily. **You are as stubborn as ever, boy. I... hm?**

Naruto looked up to the fox. "What is it? I thought you loved long, pointless monologues about yourself."

**I sense something.** the fox muttered. **Another presence within this realm.**

Naruto raised an eyebrow. "Presence? What do you mean?"

**Why don't you ask them yourself?** The fox inhaled deeply, making the water rush towards him. The force of the water's movement pulled Asa out into the open.

Naruto's eyes widened. "Asa? How the hell did you get in here?"

"I-I don't know!" she said in a rush of sudden panic. "I just woke up in here! I swear!"

The fox eyed her, considering any possibilities. **Girl.**

"Y-yes?" Asa stuttered nervously.

**Tell me. What is your name?**

"It's Asa. Asa Mizuhana."

**MIZUHANA!?** the fox screamed in outrage. He immediately started clawing and banging at the bars. **GET OVER HERE, YOU WRETCHED PEST! I WILL TEAR YOU TO SHREDS AND FEAST ON YOUR INNARDS!** Asa stepped back and trembled in pure fear. Then she felt a hand on her shoulder. She looked up to see her sensei.

"Don't worry," he said. "He can't hurt you as long as that seal remains in place."

"Are you sure?" Asa asked nervously.

"If it weren't for that seal, we'd both be dead by now." Naruto stated with a reassuring smile. "What I'm worried about right now is how you got here. What are you doing inside my mind?"

"I told you already, sensei, I don't know."

**Sensei?** the fox asked, calming down slowly. He chuckled a little, a deep, rumbling sound. **You've moved up in the world since we last spoke, boy. Last time I checked, you were just a miserable chunin.**

Asa finally couldn't take it anymore. She had to know. "Just who are you anyway?"

**Oh, your dear sensei didn't tell you about little, old me?** the fox said with malevolent grin that revealed rows of razor-sharp fangs. **Is he too afraid of what you might think of him?**

"Fox," Naruto said in a warning tone. "You shut up."

The fox ignored Naruto completely. **Allow mw to introduce myself, since you seem so ignorant. **The fox's grin went wider, making Asa shudder at the thought of what he could do with those teeth of his. **Naruto is my jinchuriki, and I am the demon that resides within his very being. I am the Nine-Tailed Fox!**

Asa's jaw dropped. She looked over to her sensei in awe, half out of admiration for holding this demon within himself, and half out of fear for the same reason.

"Naruto-sensei," she muttered. "Is that true?"

Naruto sighed and looked at her with a sad smile. "Yeah. It's true." His smile quickly went from sad to cheerful. "You know this also answers your question about how I got these whiskers." Then he glared at the fox. "Can you tell us why you want to kill one of my students?"

The fox chuckled. **Her clan was the very first to ever imprison me centuries ago, before jinchuriki were ever thought of. They sealed me within a statue of a small fox, ironically enough. Once a year, to keep the seal strong, they would sacrifice one of their own. Their blood would then be absorbed into the statue. Her clan has a strong connection to me. That would explain how she is able to enter here in her sleep. I will tell you, I would love nothing more than to rip her apart.**

Asa shook her head in disbelief. The Nine-Tailed Fox. Right in front of her. Not only that, she was inside her sensei's mind. Her sensei... the host... no, the jailer of the infamous Nine-Tails. The demon fox that attacked the Leaf Village, and was supposedly killed by the Fourth Hokage. She couldn't take this level of weirdness anymore. The world around her went black.


	5. Arrival and Betrayal

Asa awoke with a start. She looked around frantically. She sighed with relief when she realized she was back in the clearing of the forest. She looked over to Naruto-sensei, who was also awake.

"It wasn't a normal dream, you know," he said simply, quietly enough so that no one else could overhear him. That much was obvious enough. Naruto looked at her with a surprising level of seriousness. "Listen, Asa. I don't want you telling anybody about what you saw. Not a soul. It's officially an S-class secret. Understand?"

"Y-yes, sensei," Asa nodded in agreement. She understood how he felt. After all, she had her own fair share of secrets. She looked up to the sky and saw that the sun was slowly crawling up on the horizon. "We should probably wake up Tai and Arashi."

Naruto nodded. "Yeah. We'll have to get moving soon."

-o-

The four of them continued the rest of the way through the trees. All Tai wanted was to go back to dreamland. Arashi kept pushing forward with his usual effortless movements. Naruto-sensei and Asa were up front, talking. About what, Tai didn't know, but he could almost swear that he heard something about foxes. But he was way too tired to really care. Besides, if it were at all important, Naruto-sensei would likely be talking to all of them, not just Asa.

From his vantage point, Tai could see how gracefully Asa seemed to move. When his eyes lowered down to her rear, he mentally smacked himself. Sure, Asa was cute. She was actually pretty hot for a twelve-year-old. Her snow-white hair made her stand out, and her yellow eyes made her seem a bit mysterious. He blushed when he actually thought about finally asking her out. Again, he mentally punished himself.

_Come on, Tai!_ he shouted at himself. _Get a hold of yourself! Ask her out on your own time! You're on a mission right now! Focus on the now!_

Arashi looked over at Tai. He noted the fool's tiny blush as he looked at Asa.

_Hmph,_ he thought. _Looks the arrogant fool isn't so tough after all. He is distracted much too easily._

The group headed to their destination in relative silence.

-o-

Hiro Nagano's mansion was MASSIVE. As in makes-the-Hokage-Tower-look-like-a-poorly-made-wooden-shack massive. The general shape was fairly basic for the home of a wealthy man in the Land of Fire, but its sheer size set it apart from everything else.

"Damn!" Tai shouted with admiration. "This guy's got cash AND size issues!"

"Try not to say that to his face, will you?" Naruto ordered. "We're here to make a delivery, not enrage a powerful noble. The last time that happened..." Naruto shuddered a little. "Man, Tsunade was pissed."

Arashi looked to his sensei and said, "Naruto-sensei, when we return to the village, I would prefer to get to training immediately. Could we make this quick?"

"Sure," Naruto said. Soon, a guard came up to them and told them to follow him.

"I welcome you to my home, ninja of the Leaf," said Hiro Nagano as he bowed to Naruto. He was a tall, slender man with gray hair and dark, world-weary eyes. He wore a bright red kimono that symbolized his noble status. "And I am honored to make the acquaintance of the legendary Golden Fox of the Leaf Village."

"Golden Fox?" Asa asked curiously.

"It's one of many nicknames that the people outside the village have given me," Naruto answered with a grin. "It's an honor to know that you've heard of me, Lord Hiro. We have the scroll that you sent for." Naruto handed the scroll over to Hiro, who took it thankfully.

"I thank you for delivering this to me," Hiro stated as he held the scroll. "Your payment for your troubles will await you at the front gate. And again, it has been an honor to meet you, Naruto Uzumaki."

The four ninja were then led out of the mansion and given the money for the mission. Tai let out an exasperated sigh.

"Man, this mission was so boring!" he complained. "When we get back to the village, I want at least a B-rank! Something to give me a challenge!" He was then bonked on the head for the umpteenth time. "Ow! Naruto-sensei, that hurt!"

"Good," Naruto said with an innocent smile. "Now shut up, will you? Let's just get back to the village. I want to get back to Hinata sooner rather than later."

"Um... sensei?" Asa said questioningly.

"Yeah?"

"Back in that mansion, Hiro called you the 'Golden Fox,' and you said that you had more nicknames than just that. What are they, and why are you called that?"

Naruto thought for a moment. Finally, he said, "I'm called the Golden Fox for my foxlike appearance and ingenuity. I'm also called the Thousand-Man Ninja, for my mastery of the Shadow Clone Jutsu."

"Shadow Clone?" Arashi asked. "Like the clones we learned to make in the Academy?"

"Hmm... well, yes and no," Naruto answered. When he saw the confused looks on his students' faces, he began to elaborate. "Like standard clones, Shadow Clones are perfect copies of the jutsu's caster. However, instead of just illusions, Shadow Clones are actually physical entities that can give and receive damage. It takes up a lot of chakra, and most people who can use it are only able to make about twenty copies, at the most. But I have a large reservoir of chakra that allows me to make at least two to three thousand clones at once."

His students' jaws all dropped at that. Thousands of one person? All in one place? And ALL of the copies were made of physical mass? Was that even really possible?

"All right, sensei!" Tai shouted excitedly. "Lesson plan! You have got to teach us that jutsu!"

"Such a technique would come in handy," Arashi agreed, which shocked everyone (as stated earlier, Tai and Arashi hated each other's guts, so them agreeing on something is truly monumental).

"Well," Naruto said as he scratched his cheek. "I don't really know if any of you would be able to get it down completely. It's a jonin-level jutsu, and you're only genin." _Then again, I mastered it before I even qualified as a ninja... maybe... _He looked to his students who looked desperately eager. He sighed in defeat. "You'll all have to develop your chakra control to its peak first." He then thought for a minute. "And I think know just the people for the job."

Back at Hiro's mansion, the local lord sat patiently. He had the scroll sitting in front of him, just waiting to be taken. He hated having to use the ninja of his homeland. He knew that repercussions of his crimes of late would likely be death, but he was desperate. His only daughter was in danger. And he would do anything to see her safe return.

"I see you've been waiting for us," said a voice that was distorted by some kind of respirator. Hiro turned to see a pair of men now standing behind him in the room. They each wore clawed gauntlets. One man wore it on the left hand, the other wore it on his right. The gauntlets were attached by a long chain that seemed to be made from shuriken. They were Gozu and Meizu, the Demon Brothers.

"It's not like I have much choice," Hiro replied flatly. "You two always appear whenever you damn well feel like it, whether it's too early, or too late."

The original speaker, Gozu, nodded. "The only one we are punctual for is our boss. And he wants that scroll. Now hand it over."

"You hand over my daughter," Hiro demanded. "Only then will I give you the scroll."

"Tsk," Meizu muttered impatiently. "Just give us the damned scroll already! We gotta get back to the boss!"

"Patience, Meizu," Gozu said calmly. "Very well, Hiro. You can have your precious, little flower back." He reached behind him and pulled out a medium-sized sack and tossed in Hiro's direction. It hit the floor and its contents spilled out. Hiro's eyes widened in horror. Inside the bag... was his daughter's severed head.

"You... you... LIARS!" Taka roared in a mix of outrage and grief. "You said you would bring her back safely!"

"Safe?" Gozu repeated in a dangerously calm voice. "We said we'd bring her back. We never said anything about her being safe, let alone alive."

"Hey, Gozu?" Meizu asked eagerly. "Now that we've got no use for this guy, can I kill him?"

"Yes," Gozu answered cruelly. "Let's."

By the time the guards had arrived, Hiro Nagano was already dead. He had been torn to pieces by some sort of weapon. And the scroll, Hiro's most valuable possession, something that should have been destroyed years ago, was gone.


	6. Team Nine, Meet Team Seven

**Please return to Chapter 5 before reading this. It was redone with the original version.**

-o-

"Oh, man!" Tai said happily as the group returned to the Hidden Leaf Village. "It's good to be home again! I thought that that mission would be full of awesome fights, but we got squat!"

"Quit your complaining, Tai," Naruto said. "Personally, I'm glad you three didn't have to fight at all. I don't think you're ready for actual combat."

"And just what do you mean by that?" Arashi asked in an angry tone.

"Well, first of all, you're arrogant," Naruto said, making Tai snicker a little. "Tai's reckless." Tai stopped laughing and glared at his sensei. "And Asa..." Asa braced herself to be called weak. "Actually, Asa's probably the most mature of the three of you." Asa raised her head, surprised by what her sensei had said. Had she really just been complimented?

"Anyway," Naruto continued. "I'm gonna go make the report, then I'm gonna set something up for you three. Meet me at Training Field 8 in about three hours. See you later." And with that, he leaped away to the Hokage Tower.

"Hmph," Arashi grunted. He mumbled something about arrogance under his breath and skulked away without a word to his teammates.

Tai and Asa glanced at each other.

"So..." Tai said, rubbing the back of his head nervously.

"So..." Asa repeated shyly.

"You wanna, I don't know, get some lunch together?" Tai asked. Asa looked at him in surprise. "I mean, if you don't have anything better to do."

_Is he asking me out?_ Asa asked herself. "Um... sure. I'd like that."

Tai smiled and said, "All right, let's go! My treat!"

_Like a real date,_ Asa thought hopefully. "All right." The two of them walked away to find a place to eat.

After giving his report to Grandma Tsunade, Naruto went off to find the people to help train his students in the fine art of chakra control.

_Dammit,_ Naruto thought after an hour searching around. _Where are those two?_

"Naruto," said a familiar male voice. Naruto turned to see just the people he was looking for.

"Sasuke! Sakura!" Naruto said with his trademark foxlike grin. "I've been looking for the two of you! Where've you been?"

"Home, you idiot," Sakura stated matter-of-factly. "Didn't you ever even think to look in our house?"

"Uh..."

"Still the ever-vigilant genius, I see," Sasuke said sarcastically with a smirk. Naruto glared at his rival.

"Anyway," Naruto said, still glaring at his friend. "I need some help from you two. I need to teach my students better chakra control, and we all know that that's not exactly my specialty."

"Students?" Sasuke said with mild surprise. "You mean someone actually passed your version of the bell test?"

"Yep."

"Well, if they could survive that," Sakura said with a mischievous smile on her face. "They might be worth roughing up a little. I'm in."

"Great! What about you, Sasuke?"

"I was outvoted the moment Sakura agreed," Sasuke sighed, looking unusually defeated.

"Okay," Naruto said, slightly confused. "We have to meet them at Training Field 8 in about two hours, so you'd better get ready soon."

"All right," Sakura said with a wink. "We'll see you then."

-o-

At the eighth training ground, Team Nine waited patiently for their sensei and whoever he planned to bring to help train them.

"With our luck, he's probably gonna be late again." Tai stated.

"Come on, Tai," Asa said reassuringly. "Try to be a little more patient."

Arashi looked around at the training field. It was relatively small compared to most of the other training grounds, but it was large enough for most small-scale training exercises. Arashi began to wonder exactly what kind of training his team was about to go through.

-o-

After a few minutes, Naruto arrived on the scene with a mischievous grin on his face. He looked at his students and his smile widened.

"Hey, you three!" he said happily, which set the three genin on edge. Whenever they saw that look on his face, they knew something was up. "I hope you weren't waiting too long."

"Not really," Tai said. "You're actually not as late as you usually are, sensei."

"Good! 'Cause I've got a little surprise for you kids. Sasuke. Sakura. You can come out now."

"Hello!" said a cheery woman's voice from behind the trio of genin. The three turned to see a beautiful woman with bright pink hair and jade-colored eyes. She had fair skin that was nicely complimented by a bright red sleeveless shirt and black shorts the showed off her legs. She wore her Leaf headband in her hair like a ribbon, showing off her large forehead.

Next to her was a tall, dark-haired man wearing a dark blue vest that revealed his toned arms, and basic black ninja leggings. He had a sword tied onto his lower back, and he seemed to emit an air of cool composure, like nothing could surprise him.

"Uh..." Tai started. "Sensei, who are these two?"

"They were my teammates from back when I was a genin," Naruto answered with a nostalgic smile. "This is Sasuke Uchiha and his wife, Sakura. Two of my closest friends."

"Uchiha?" Arashi asked in surprise. "As in the Uchiha Clan? I had heard that they were extinct."

"I'm the last of my clan," Sasuke answered simply. "I'd rather not talk about that if you don't mind."

"Sensei, why did you bring them here?" Asa asked, changing the subject to Sasuke's relief. "Aren't you going to train us?"

"That's what they're here for," Naruto stated. "I want to teach you three better chakra control, but that's not exactly my specialty. Sakura's here to teach you about the actual control, and Sasuke's going to motivate you."

"Motivate us?" Tai asked in confusion. "What does that mean?"

"Naruto will let me use my sword," Sasuke said in a calm yet threatening voice. "To an extent."

Tai raised an eyebrow. "And just why should we be afraid of some random guy with hair in the shape of a duck's ass?" With that said, Sasuke vanished and reappeared right behind Tai, his sword poking the genin's back.

"You should never judge a book by its cover," Sasuke said in a calm, monotonous voice that sent a chill down Tai's spine. "Especially if said book is a shinobi of the Hidden Leaf Village."

"Er, yes, sir," Tai said carefully with a nervous smile, terror evident on his face. "How about we get to training?" Sasuke sheathed his sword and walked back to his place next to his wife.

"All right!" Naruto exclaimed cheerfully. "Now that you all have met, I do believe that it's time to get to the exercise!"

"What do you have in mind, sensei?" Asa asked. Naruto simply smiled, walked up to a tree... and started walking up the tree perfectly parallel to the ground. He stopped upside-down on a branch.

"You're gonna learn how to do this," he said with a smirk. His three students stood gawking at him. Even in the Academy, they had never seen anyone do that before. "Sasuke and Sakura will take it from here. I gotta go and help Hinata with a couple of things. I'll be back at sunset."

"Sunset!?" Tai yelled in surprise. "What's that supposed to mean, huh?"

"Trust me, it'll take for you a while to get this down. It took me a few days." He tossed a kunai, which thudded into the earth behind Sasuke and Sakura. He teleported right behind his former teammates, pointed to the pink-haired kunoichi and said, "Sakura here got it on the first try. I can't think of a better teacher for this kind of thing."

"Thank you for the compliment, Naruto," Sakura said sweetly. She turned to the three genin, and her expression immediately turned to an evil glare. "GET READY, YOU MAGGOTS! DO WHAT YOU'RE TOLD AND YOU MIGHT GET HOME WITHOUT VERY MANY BROKEN BONES!"

"B-broken bones?" Asa stammered. Needless to say, she and her teammates were shocked and confused at Sakura's sudden change in personality. _What has Naruto-sensei dragged us into this time?_

Naruto sighed. _I just hope they don't get Sakura too mad. _He shivered a little._ God knows how terrifying she can be. Like when I use the Nine-Tails chakra times a hundred._

"All right, you three," he said. "I have to get back soon. I expect you all to be respectful to my old teammates. That means you, Tai."

"Aw, come on!" Tai complained. "Why do you gotta single me out?"

"See ya!" Naruto said cheerfully as he vanished in an instant flash of yellow light.

"Okay, seriously," Tai said. "How the hell does he do that?"

"It's one of his many special jutsus," Sasuke explained simply. "Now, let's get started."

-o-

Elsewhere, inside an underground base, the Demon Brothers knelt before their employer. Meizu hated having to do this, but if they didn't, their boss would likely kill them on the spot. More importantly, they probably wouldn't get paid.

"Do you have the scroll?" their master asked.

"Yeah," Gozu replied, holding up their prize. Their boss smiled maliciously.

"Excellent work as usual, you two." He held out his hand. "Now give it to me."

"Payment first," Gozu replied. Their employer frowned in disappointment, but he shrugged it off.

"Of course," he said as he clapped his hands. A servant walked into the room with an open briefcase brimming full with high-worth ryu notes. "I don't suppose that this would be compensation enough for your troubles so far, would it? And I trust you will continue to work for me?"

"Heh," Meizu chuckled. "You keep this kind of cash coming in, and we'll stick around for a while!"

"Excellent," the employer hissed in his snake-like voice. His eyes glinted with sickening glee. Soon, his ambitions will finally come to fruition. He just needed one last ingredient to complete his recipe for disaster. The Nine-Tailed Fox. All he had to do now was be patient.


	7. Determination of a Clansmen

**Please return to Chapter 5 before reading this. It was redone with the original version.**

-o-

"Move it!" Sakura shouted as Team Nine was finally getting the walking-on-water technique down. It had been about two weeks since Naruto had pretty much dumped his students on his old friends. As it turns out, though, she knew how to motivate rookies. "Do you want me to get Sasuke to 'motivate' you again?"

That was all the encouragement the genin needed. Sasuke had "motivated" them before. Tai simply did NOT want a "Thousand Years of Death, Plus Sword." The regular version was painful enough.

Tai charged his feet with chakra and ran towards the lake in front of him. He ran atop the water for a few seconds, then plunged into the cold liquid beneath him.

"Dammit!" he hollered in frustration. "Why is this so hard?"

"It's not when you finally decide to focus," said Arashi, who stood calmly above Tai, atop the water. "Leave all distractions out of your mind and focus. You may eventually be able to do this without any conscious effort."

"Yeah, whatever," Tai complained. He looked over to Asa who was also having a little bit of trouble with the technique. Well, at least I'm not the only one not getting down yet. I just wish it was Arashi who was screwing up right now.

From the middle of the lake, Naruto watched the genin as they worked. He analyzed each of their individual strengths and weaknesses. Tai was determined and ready for just about anything, but he was too easily distracted. Arashi was a very fast learner, able to pick out details that even veteran ninja would sometimes miss. However, he was also arrogant, and whenever he tried to give out pieces of advice, it would often come across as an insult to the recipient's abilities (or, in Tai's case, their intelligence).

Asa was well-rounded and intelligent, but lacked confidence in her own abilities. If she had even half of Tai's determination and a quarter of Arashi's focus, she would likely become great shinobi someday.

"They're making good progress," Naruto pointed out. "Maybe when they finally get water-walking, I'll see what chakra natures they have."

"You're finally going to take responsibility for your own students?" Sakura asked mockingly.

"Gee, you sound so surprised," Naruto complained. "I only handed them over to you guys to help them with chakra control. I can teach them anything but that."

"We understand," Sasuke said in a stoic manner. "By the way, the Chunin Exams are coming up in a few months. Are you planning to recommend your team?"

"Probably," Naruto replied. He then grinned mischievously. "If they can survive my new training program, then I'll definitely put in a good word for them."

"Hey!" yelled Asa's voice. "I think I finally got it!" At that moment, Tai stood up almost perfectly on the lake's surface. They were both cheering happily.

"Well, Naruto," Sasuke said with a sly smile. "Better get them ready for hell."

-o-

The next four months were fairly basic. Team Nine's sensei had them work harder and harder every day, both on missions and in training. All three were making decent progress. Tai was getting smarter, Arashi was (very) slowly becoming more of a team player, and Asa's confidence was getting better, though it was still a little lacking. One day, Naruto finally decided to move on to the next lesson.

-o-

"Chakra natures?" Tai asked, somewhat confused.

"Yes," Naruto replied. "You three do know what the five chakra natures are, right?"

"They are the five basic jutsu elements," Arashi stated, remembering what he had read up on in the Academy. "They are fire, wind, lightning, earth, and water. All ninja have an affinity for at least one of these five natures."

"That's right," Naruto said with a smirk that his students inched away from. That always meant that he had something nasty in store for them. Instead, he then pulled out three little pieces of paper. "These papers will help us with this."

"But, Naruto-sensei," Asa said with her hand raised. "How are pieces of paper supposed to help us with our training?"

"That's a good question, Asa," Naruto replied. "I asked the same thing to my sensei. You see, these papers are made from a special type of tree that's grown using chakra-based techniques. Just let your chakra go through the paper, and that will show what your nature is."

"Okay," Tai said skeptically. "Could you give a demonstration, sensei?"

"Sure." He pulled out another piece of paper and held it between his fingers. Exactly one second later, it split in two. The students gawked at him.

"What does that mean?" Asa asked after getting over her initial surprise and confusion.

"It split in two," Naruto stated simply. "That means that I have an affinity for wind-style ninjutsu, which are able to cut, tear, and sever their way through just about anything."

"Wind, huh?" Tai said with a smile. He pictured himself literally blowing away any and all competition that came his way (namely Arashi). "All right! Gimme that paper!" He quickly snatched one of the pieces of paper from his sensei's hand. Asa and Arashi each took their pieces of paper as well.

"All right," Naruto said with a smile. "Remember: fire nature will cause the paper to catch fire. Wind will split it apart. Lightning will make it crinkle up. If you're earth, it'll crumble. Water will make it wet. It doesn't matter which element you are: each has its own strengths and weaknesses."

The students nodded and poured their chakra into the papers. Tai's immediately became moist. Arashi's caught fire. Asa's became moist and crinkled up. Naruto raised an eyebrow.

Noticing his teammates' papers, Tai shouted, "Hey! Asa got two chakra natures? Is that even possible?"

"She's from a ninja clan, like you or me," Naruto explained. "It's likely that her double chakra natures give her some kind of special ability, like a kekkei genkai of some sort."

"Kekkei what-now?" Tai asked with his head cocked in confusion. Naruto practically fell over on his own face.

_Was _I_ this thick-headed?_ he thought, staring at Tai in mild disbelief.

-o-

After a brief explanation of what a kekkei genkai was (courtesy of Asa and Arashi), Team Nine was finally getting into some jutsu training. Naruto was quickly passing on some basic, C-rank techniques. He taught them each the hand signs for different jutsu. Unfortunately for Arashi, Naruto didn't know any fire style techniques. Instead, Naruto gave him a scroll with three fire style jutsus written down in it.

Again, Naruto found himself analyzing his students. Tai was able to memorize hand sign patterns with surprising ease. It was doing them quickly and efficiently that was the problem.

Arashi, seemed to master techniques quickly, but was too easily frustrated whenever he didn't get one down immediately.

Asa had mastered one of the techniques that he had taught her, but again, she didn't have a whole lot of confidence in herself, which was most evident whenever she didn't get a jutsu.

They went on for hours, just before the sun was about to set. Looking up at the sky, Naruto announced that it was time to go home. But as Tai and Arashi left, he noticed that Asa had stayed behind.

He returned to the training ground and saw her still training. She seemed to be struggling with the lightning jutsu he had taught her the hand signs to.

She ran through the signs again. "Lightning Style: Ball Lightning Jutsu!" Out of her hands came nothing but tiny sparks. The jutsu was supposed to launch a ball of condensed electricity that exploded upon impact. This was a shameful imitation.

She looked over at the now-decimated remains of the tree that Naruto-sensei had made an example out of using this jutsu. It had been dynamic display of raw power that was topped only by her sensei's mastery of wind jutsus. She was primarily a lightning type. She should have had this jutsu down pat hours ago. If her father had learned that she wasn't even able to master a simple lightning jutsu...

No. She had to master this technique, but not for her father. She wanted her father's approval to the point where she was desperate. But disappointing her sensei? She would rather die than have another person hate her. But for some reason, she just couldn't master this jutsu.

"Need some advice?" said a voice. She turned quickly and saw...

"N-Naruto-sensei!" she stood up immediately. "I-I'm sorry! I was just about to head home!"

"Why should you be sorry?" Naruto asked his student with a genuine smile. "I actually admire that you won't quit."

"Admire?" Asa asked in surprise. That smile of his was real, and she could tell that his words were honest. She just couldn't help but think that this was some sort of dream.

"Tell you what. Why don't I help you finish up?"

"You-you'd help me master this jutsu?"

"Of course. I am your sensei after all, aren't I?"

"R-right!" Asa said with a nod.

"Now," Naruto said crossing his arms and getting serious. "Go through the hand signs again." Asa did just that, but when she hit the final hand sign, the sign for monkey, her sensei stopped her. "Your hands are in the wrong placement. That's your problem." He quickly showed her the correct version of the sign.

Again, she ran through the hand signs. "Lightning Style: Ball Lightning Jutsu!" Out of her hands flew a ball of electricity that slammed into a small boulder and exploded on impact. When the smoke cleared, the boulder was gone, reduced to a pile of rubble. Realizing what had just happened, she smiled and started jumping up and down and yelling in excitement.

"Thank you, sensei, thank you!" she shouted, nearly crushing Naruto's spine in a bear hug.

"Okay, okay!" Naruto said with a laugh. "Let go of me before you break my back, will ya?"

"Oh," Asa said as she let her sensei go. "I'm sorry. I've just never been this excited about anything before!"

"All right, calm down." He looked up to the night sky. "It's late. We should probably get you home."

Suddenly, Asa's mood darkened. Naruto recognized that look in her eyes. He had seen only too many times as a child, every time he looked in the mirror. That look of emotional pain that no physical pain can compare to.

"I..." Asa started hesitantly. "I don't want to go home just yet. I'd rather stay here and train for a little while longer."

Naruto looked at her with what might have been some level of understanding. He nodded with a smile and said, "All right. Let's continue."

Asa stared at him. "'Let's?' You mean... you're going to keep training with me?"

"Of course. Someone's gotta stick around and make sure you don't wear yourself out. Might as well be me. After all-"

"You are my sensei," Asa finished for him happily. Naruto laughed.

"All right, then," he said. "Let's begin."

-o-

In the trees, a young man watched as Asa trained with her sensei. He shook his head in shame. Apparently, that silver-haired failure couldn't even get the hand signs for low-level lightning jutsu right without someone telling her how to do it.

_Father will be most displeased,_ he thought with a sneer. He stood up on the branch he was hiding out on. Asa was a lost cause, of course. That was what Father had always said. But it seems as though some people refuse to realize that. One cannot improve upon what is doomed to fail no matter what. That is the way of the world, and the way it always will be.

-o-

Tsunade had just finished her third cup of sake when Shizune and Kotetsu ran in shouting, startling the Hokage and making her knock over her sake bottle.

"Lady Tsunade!" Shizune shouted. She seemed especially distressed.

"This had better be damn important," Tsunade said, a vein pulsing on her forehead.

"It is, milady," Shizune said. "Kotetsu, the report." The chunin nodded and handed Tsunade a file.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow at the file name. "'Nagano Case?'"

"Yes, milady," Kotetsu said with a dark look on his face. The Hokage opened the file and started reading. Her eyes widened as she read through it.

"Hiro Nagano was killed?" she asked in shock. Shizune nodded grimly.

"It was the same Hiro Nagano that Naruto and his team delivered that scroll to," Shizune said. "He was found cut to pieces, along with his daughter's severed head. The scroll that had been delivered had also been stolen."

"Is there any clue as to who did it?" Tsunade asked.

"Only one piece of evidence was found at the scene, Lady Hokage," Kotetsu stated. "Although the current investigators aren't certain what it represents. There should be a picture of it on the next page."

Tsunade nodded and flipped the page. On the top left of the right page was a picture of a coin of some kind, a medallion maybe. It bore the image of a blazing sun with a snake coiling around it, trying to bite its own tail.

_That symbol…_ Tsunade thought. _It looks… vaguely familiar._ Then a pang of realization suddenly hit her. "No… it can't be… can it?"

"Do you know what this symbol is, Lady Tsunade?" Shizune asked. Tsunade stood up and walked to file cabinet on the side of her office. She pulled open the top filing drawer, pulled out a folder, and opened it. Her eyes widened.

"Damn that worthless snake," Tsunade muttered to herself. She turned to Shizune and Kotetsu. "Kotetsu, I want a squad of ANBU dispatched to further investigate the murder."

"Yes, Lady Hokage," Kotetsu said with a bow. He then vanished in a mini-tornado of leaves.

"Shizune," Tsunade said, turning to her aid. "I want Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura in my office by tomorrow."

"Lady Tsunade," Shizune said with a look of worry on her face. "Is something wrong? What is that symbol supposed to represent?"

"See for yourself," Tsunade muttered as she handed Shizune the file she had gotten from the cabinet. Shizune looked through the folder, and her eyes became dinner plates.

"L-Lady Tsunade," she stuttered nervously. "This is…"

"I know," Tsunade said miserably as she sat back down at her desk. "It's Orochimaru's clan symbol."


	8. A Dangerous Deal

**Please return to Chapter 5 before reading this. It was redone with the original version.**

-o-

Naruto arrived home far later than he usually did. When he came home, his son was already asleep, and Hinata was waiting patiently on the couch. She seemed very upset.

"Where have you been?" Hinata asked with her arms crossed. "It's past midnight! I was worried about you!"

"Sorry about that," Naruto said as he scratched the back of his head in mild embarrassment. "Asa wanted to train all night instead of going home. I had to stick around so that she didn't kill herself while working."

"Naruto," Hinata said with a sigh. "You do realize you were exact same way, right?"

"Yeah, I know. But I just have this feeling..." He trailed off. "Nah, never mind."

"Naruto?" Hinata said with concern. "What is it?"

"It's nothing to worry your pretty, little head over," Naruto assured his wife. "Just a random thought."

That wasn't really enough for her. Hinata knew that whenever Naruto kept things to himself, bad things usually happened to him. But she also knew how stubborn he tended to be. If he wanted to keep a secret, he would keep it no matter what anyone said. She sighed in defeat. "All right. Now come on. It's time for bed."

"Yippee! Bedtime!" Naruto cheered with an all-too recognizable grin. When he reached for her waste, she stopped him.

"No, Naruto," she chided him. "I'm still pregnant. Wait until about a month after our daughter is born."

"Aw, come on!" Naruto complained. He threw on a sad, puppy dog look. "I need some love! Please?"

Hinata thought about it for a moment. Then she had an idea. "Okay, Naruto. I'll make a deal with you. If you can behave yourself until I say so, I'll do something special for you."

"Like what?" Hinata motioned for him to move in closer. When he did, she whispered her idea into his ear. Naruto's face immediately put the ripest of tomatoes to shame. "You... I... we... really?"

"Yes," Hinata confirmed. Naruto smiled at Hinata's confidence. It had started to truly develop when they originally started dating. When they got married, she only got better. Having kids made her especially willful. Naruto absolutely loved that. "Now come along, Naruto. We have to go to bed."

"Yes, my love," Naruto said with a broad smile.

"By the way, Naruto..."

"Yeah?"

"Where's your coat?"

-o-

_The young girl walked through her large home. It always amazed her how big it was. The kitchen alone was the size of most two-bedroom apartments. Her own bedroom was just a little bit bigger than half that. But today, she didn't admire her home. She was shedding tears. Just three days ago, her family had held a memorial service in memory of her mother._

_ Since Mother's death, Father had become increasingly cold to the little, six-year-old girl. Just today, he had called her weak, a lost cause not worth his time. Her older brother had always shown far greater promise. She couldn't bear it. She hated being hated. Unconsciously, she walked out the front door to her home... and she ran._

-o-

Asa awoke suddenly. It was a dream. A dream about her past. She shook her head quickly, getting the thoughts out of her mind.

_You can't think like that all the time,_ she told herself. She stood up and noticed that she had some kind of blanket over her. She looked at it and realized that it was her sensei's white and orange coat. She looked around and found that she was still in Training Ground 8. Even after she fell asleep, Naruto hadn't taken to her home. She quietly thanked him for that, and for giving her his coat to use as a blanket.

She stood up and folded the coat. But just as she was about to leave...

"So this is where you have been," said her father's voice. She turned to see Kurodo Mizuhana in all his "glory."

"F-Father," she said timidly. She dropped her sensei's coat on the ground as she performed a quick, respectful bow. Even with his own children, he demanded this form of respect. "Forgive me. I was training, and-"

"Save your breath," he said coldly. "Your brother has already informed me of this blatant show of disrespect." Asa flinched at that. "Your curfew is absolute. You do know this, correct?"

"Yes, Father." Asa was beginning to shy away at this point.

He glared at her with those cold, unfeeling eyes. He then turned and started walking away. "Well then, if you like spending your time outside so much, then perhaps you'd prefer that I let you live out here for the next month.

"What?" Asa was shocked. Even for her father, this was a cruel punishment.

"Do you question my judgment? Do you wish for your punishment to be even more severe?"

"I..." she started, but she trailed off. "N-no, Father."

"Then this is where you will be living for the next month. You will receive no aid whatsoever from the clan. Understood?"

"Yes, Father."

"Very well then," Kurodo said with finality. "I will see you again in a month's time."

"Yes, Father."

-o-

Tai was walking down the street, whistling a happy tune. So far, today was turning out pretty good. Naruto-sensei had said that they would have the day off, and he planned to enjoy it. As he walked down the street, he noticed Asa walking out of a store with a bunch of camping supplies.

"Yo, Asa!" he called with a wave. Asa turned to see him and waved back, accidentally dropping two bags of trail mix. "You going camping?" Tai asked as he picked bags back up for her.

"Er, yeah," she replied hesitantly. "I guess you could say that." Tai looked carefully at her expression, and noticed a depressed look in her golden eyes.

"Okay," he said seriously. "What're you really up to?"

"W-what?"

"Look, Asa, I may not be the smartest guy in the world, but I'm pretty good at reading people. It's like sensei said during that test he put us through. You gotta read between the lines that lie between the lines. What's wrong?"

She hesitated again. Was she really that obvious? Even Tai seemed to be able to read her mind through her face. With that sudden epiphany, she realized just how pointless bottling up her emotions was. She just gave up on hiding her troubles. She started sobbing.

"Whoa!" Tai shouted as he was caught off guard by Asa's tears. "What's wrong? Why are you crying?"

"My own father..." she muttered miserably. "He doesn't care about me. He doesn't like me... he doesn't hate me... he just doesn't care." She looked up at Tai with sorrowful eyes. "He says that I'm nothing more than a waste of time, space, and effort. I just want him to recognize me for once! But he never does! He always says that I'll never be like my brother! But don't want to be like Ryuichi! I don't want to be a cold, heartless, robotic, jackass of a ninja! I just want to be a ninja in my own way!" She wanted to say more, but her sobs were drowning out her words.

Tai looked at her with sadness and concern. Her own FATHER didn't care about her? Wasn't a father supposed to love and support his children, not treat them like dirt? That pissed him off. He knew he wouldn't be able to relate, since his own father had been missing for years, but still...

"Asa, stop crying," he said, trying to comfort her. She shook her head as if to refuse.

"He's making camp out in Training Ground 8 for a whole month," she choked out. "I can't stand it anymore."

Tai clenched his fists. "All right, that tears it!" He grabbed one of Asa's hands and started pulling her along.

"T-Tai, what are you-?"

"C'mon! You're not going to camp in some overused training field for a month! We're gonna go talk to my mom about this. I guarantee she'll let you use the guest room."

"G-guest room?" Asa asked, her face turning beet red. "What are you talking about?"

He looked at her with a wide smile. "You're gonna stay at my place with me and my mom for the next month!"

-o-

From a rooftop, their sensei had heard the whole conversation. Naruto had an uncharacteristic scowl on his face. Asa's father didn't care about her? How could that be?

_Looks like it's time for a little PTA meeting,_ he thought. He leaped away, heading straight for the Mizuhana house.

-o-

Kurodo was reading a scroll in his study like he usually did when he heard a knock at the front door. He got up, walked straight for the door, and opened it. There he saw a tall, blonde man with wild blue eyes and whisker-like markings on his cheeks.

"Kurodo Mizuhana, I presume?" the man asked.

"Yes," Kurodo replied. "And you are?"

"Naruto Uzumaki," the man answered with an idiotic grin. "I'm Asa's sensei. May I come in?"

Kurodo raised an eyebrow. "Certainly."

In a few moments, they were sitting in the large living room, Naruto on the sofa, Kurodo on a large chair. Naruto analyzed the man. He had silver hair and golden eyes, just like Asa, but the man's eyes were filled the type of look that practically screamed, "I'm better than you, and you should worship me for every little thing I do." After a few minutes, a servant walked in and handed out tea to the two jonin.

"I can only assume that you are here to talk about my daughter," Kurodo said after a sip of his tea.

"Straight to the point, eh?" Naruto said, still smiling, which got on Kurodo's nerves. "Fine by me. I overheard conversation she had with one of my other students. It seems that she thinks that you don't care about her."

"I do not," Kurodo stated bluntly, as if it were the most normal thing in the world. "You would not either if your child were a doomed failure. Caring will always inevitably lead to disappointment."

_Geez, what kind of childhood did this guy have?_ Naruto wondered. "With all due respect, sir, I'm afraid I'm going to have to disagree with you on that. She only lacks confidence, and I'm sure that that will grow stronger if you just learn to accept her."

"A lost cause is a lost cause, no matter how you slice it," Kurodo said crudely as he took another sip of tea.

_That's true if you yourself are a lost cause._ "Again, I'm going to have to disagree with you. I think she can change for the better."

"You and I seem to have different ideas of what is and is not possible. You cannot improve upon what is doomed to fail."

Naruto tightened his grip on his teacup, nearly breaking it. How could this guy be so callous? He was Naruto's exact opposite in just about every way.

"I'm willing to bet that she can improve," Naruto said with a serious look. "In fact, why don't we make an official bet?"

"A bet?" Kurodo replied flatly, but he raised an eyebrow in interest. Clearly, he was a gambler. "And what would the terms be?"

Naruto thought for a moment. "The Chunin Exams are coming up. I'll recommend Asa and her team. If Asa succeeds, you admit that you were wrong about her and make her the official heir to the Mizuhana clan."

"I see," Kurodo said. He started to think for a moment. "And when Asa fails?"

"_If_ she fails," Naruto said with emphasis. He had a look of dead seriousness. "If Asa fails the Chunin Exams… then I will resign my title as a ninja and become a civil servant to the Mizuhana clan."

"You are willing to risk your entire career for the sake of my daughter?" Kurodo said in surprise. "You are a strange one, Naruto Uzumaki."

Naruto smirked. "Yeah. I get that a lot." He then held out his hand and held a serious look. "Do we have a deal?"

Kurodo thought about it for a moment. "Yes." He shook Naruto's hand with a firm grip. And with that, the deal was struck.


	9. Worry and Hope

Tai led Asa all the way across the village, in the complete opposite direction that she was originally heading. All the way, she was blushing like a tomato as Tai held her hand. It was, needless to say, a practical dream come true for her. Sure Tai had a tendency to spout the wrong thing at the wrong time. Sure he didn't exactly graduate from the academy with flying colors. And of course, he would always get into fights with Arashi that annoyed everyone to nearly no end. But she didn't care about any of that.

Despite his many obvious faults, he was a kindhearted guy with the guts to go up against difficult odds that most people would refuse to take on. All his traits and flaws are what made him someone Asa knew she could trust. Someone she believed she could…

"We're here!" Tai shouted, interrupting Asa's thoughts. She looked over and saw a modest, two-story house. It was nowhere near as big as her own house, but it was large enough for at least a family of three or four people. "It's really not much, but it's home." Tai smiled and pulled Asa along. "C'mon! I'll give you the grand tour!"

"B-but, Tai!" Asa stuttered. "What about your mother?"

"Don't worry! I'm sure she'll understand when we explain the situation. Besides, she's not the type to just let people sleep on the street."

"But…" Asa couldn't quite form the words she wanted say. She was simply too distracted by the fact that Tai was _still_ holding her hand. _Why would he want to help me? I know we're teammates, but…_ Again, she was at a loss for words.

Tai led her through the door and called his mother. She came in wearing a white apron covered with food stains. Her hair was bright red, like Tai's, but longer, and better combed. Her eyes were an emerald green and shone with warmth and kindness that Asa had only ever seen from her own mother.

"Welcome home, Tai," she said with a smile. She eyed Asa with a little surprise. "I see you brought a friend. Well, it's very nice to meet you." Tai's mother extended a hand. "I'm Tai's mother. Call me Hikari."

"I'm… Asa," the silver-haired genin said shyly as she shook Hikari's hand. "Asa Mizuhana. I'm on Tai's team."

"Asa?" Hikari asked with an amused look. "The same Asa that Tai thinks is cute?"

"Mom!" Tai shouted in surprise. Asa blushed deeply. Tai thought she was cute? Really?

"Well, you do speak very highly of her, son," Hikari said with a wink directed at Asa.

"Um… I… er…" Asa simply couldn't form the words.

"Moving right along," Tai said with an embarrassed look. "Mom, is it okay if Asa crashes here for a while?"

"I don't see why not," his mother said. "But I would like to know the why."

"Long story short, Asa's dad is forcing her to sleep outside for a whole month."

"What?" Hikari said in shock. "That's terrible! Why would he do that?"

"I broke curfew," Asa said in genuine sadness. "I… I don't want to be a burden. I'm perfectly capable of camping out."

"Nonsense!" Hikari said stubbornly. "No father should make his child sleep out in the cold! You're staying here for the next month!"

"But-"

"No 'buts' about it, little lady," Hikari said with finality. "I'm not taking 'no' for an answer. I'll lay out some fresh sheets in the guest room for you." And with that, she left the room to get said sheets, leaving Asa to wonder, _What just happened?_ She looked over at Tai, thinking that she may have discovered where he got his persistent stubbornness from.

-o-

Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura stood in front of the Hokage's desk. Naruto had come hoping that he would be able to use the opportunity to recommend his students for the Chunin Exams. Sasuke stood as stoically as ever, with Sakura by his side.

"I guess you three are wondering why I've called you here," Tsunade assumed correctly.

"Pretty good guess, Grandma," Naruto said with a smirk. Tsunade glared at him. He gulped and immediately went back to business mode.

"Why did you summon us?" Sasuke asked calmly. "Is it something serious?"

"Very much so, Sasuke," Tsunade said grimly. She turned to Naruto. "Naruto, do you remember your team's first C-rank mission?"

"Yeah," the blond answered. "We had to deliver a valuable scroll to Hiro Nagano. Why?"

"Hiro Nagano and his daughter were found dead the night after you delivered that scroll," Tsunade said flatly. Naruto's eyes widened.

"What?" he asked. "Who did it?"

Tsunade's already dark expression suddenly became darker. "A certain snake that you three know all too well."

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "What does that mean?"

Tsunade laid a picture out in front of them. The same picture that was in the file about the Nagano murders. "This is a photo of a medallion that was left at the scene of the crime."

The three jonin looked closely at the photo. Sasuke's brow furrowed slightly. "That symbol looks familiar."

"I figured it would to you, Sasuke." Tsunade pulled out another folder and handed it to the Uchiha. "This file has the same symbol listed in it."

Sasuke took the folder and opened it for Naruto and Sakura to see as well. All their eyes widened in shock.

"Orochimaru!?" Naruto shouted at the top of his lungs. "But that bastard has been dead for over years! Sasuke killed that snake himself!"

"Orochimaru is a tricky opponent, to say the least," Tsunade said darkly. "God only knows what that lunatic is capable of."

Sakura squeezed her fists. "That maniac… If he really is alive, I'll be sure to kill him myself!"

"Sakura," Sasuke said, desperately trying to keep himself calm. "You know that no one person, ninja or otherwise, stands much of a chance against him. The only way any of the three of us could beat him is if we fought him together."

"I know that, but…" Sakura looked at Sasuke worriedly.

"I know that look," Sasuke said. "Don't worry, Sakura. He has no way to control me. And he has nothing that I would want."

"Moving right along," Tsunade continued, getting everyone's attention back on her. "If Orochimaru really is still alive somehow, then he's bound to try to pull something eventually. Most likely an attempt at revenge against Sasuke for betraying him."

"Just let him try!" Naruto cheered confidently. "He doesn't stand a chance against all three of us!"

"That freak is going down!" Sakura said.

Tsunade raised an eyebrow. "While your confidence is inspiring, remember that this is Orochimaru we're dealing with. We can't underestimate him."

"Don't worry, Lady Tsunade," Sasuke said with a nod. "We remember just what he's capable of."

Tsunade eyed all three of them. They had each grown so much since she had met so many years ago. Naruto was already designated as her successor (though she hadn't told him yet), Sakura was now head of the Leaf Village Medical Corps, and Sasuke was an ANBU captain, and was already up for consideration to become the head of the ANBU, despite having joined only three short months ago.

"All right then," she said with a proud fire in her eyes. "The minute the investigation team finds anything significant, you three will be dispatched to aid them and, if he is alive, capture or kill Orochimaru. Preferably the latter. Dismissed!"

-o-

Sasuke and Sakura were on their way home, Sakura's arm wrapped around her husband's.

"So, Sasuke," Sakura said with a flirty look. "How about I give you physical when we get home?"

"Sure," Sasuke replied flatly.

Sakura raised an eyebrow. "Sasuke? Are you even paying attention?"

"Sure," he said again.

Sakura pouted for a minute. She then came up with a particularly naughty little idea. "Sasuke… I'm pregnant."

"Sure," Sasuke muttered yet again. He then stopped dead in his tracks and looked at his wife, utterly shocked. "Wait! You're what!?"

"I knew you weren't paying attention," Sakura said with giggle and a wink.

Sasuke sighed when his surprise subsided. "You're evil, you know that?"

"You wouldn't love me if I wasn't!" she said cheerfully.

"True," the Uchiha said with a smile.

"So," Sakura said seriously. "Care to tell me what's on your mind?"

Sasuke looked down and away from his wife. He looked up into the sky. "When we first became genin, and you, Naruto, and I were all put on the same team, I just figured you two would only slow me down, that I wouldn't become stronger as long as you were around me." He turned back to Sakura. "But I was wrong. Neither of you were holding me back. I eventually saw you both as my comrades, my closest friends. For the first time, I was truly happy. Until… Orochimaru came along, and then Itachi." He looked down again. "They sent me back into a downward spiral, and I ended up turning my back on my home, my friends… and you." He clenched his fists. "I don't want to lose that again."

"Sasuke." Sakura said his name sadly. She knew he had a lot of emotional anguish in his past, and that he still had a lot of inner turmoil for everything he had done after he had left the village. "Sasuke, you don't have to worry about that. Naruto brought you back to your senses before. I'm pretty sure I can do the same."

"Right," Sasuke replied. He then had a fire of determination once again ignite in his eyes. "I promise you, Sakura: I won't ever turn my back on you ever again. If I do, then may God strike down on the spot."

"I know you won't Sasuke," Sakura said with a smile. The smile immediately went back to flirt mode. "So. How about that physical?"

"Of course," Sasuke said happily. But deep down, he couldn't shake the feeling that a storm was coming. He subconsciously reached for the place on the back of his neck where Orochimaru had originally placed his curse mark. It was a habit he had gotten into: whenever something bad was going to happen, it would throb painlessly. _Orochimaru… he's coming. I can feel it._

"By the way, Sasuke…" Sakura said.

"Yes?"

"How would you feel if I really was pregnant?" Sasuke immediately stumbled and nearly face-planted.

-o-

In Tsunade's office, Naruto had just put forth his recommendation for his team participation in the Chunin Exams. Tsunade was simply looking at him oddly.

"Why recommend your team so early?" the Hokage asked with one eyebrow raised. "The exams aren't for another two weeks."

"I know that," Naruto replied. "I just figured I could get it out of the way now."

"I see. Is there any other reason you want your team to take part in the exams?"

Naruto nearly fumbled with the words. "W-well… you see… er…" He scratched his cheek and began chuckling nervously. "I sort of made a… bet."

"A bet?"

"Yeah." Naruto then explained about his earlier meeting with Kurodo. And Tsunade promptly went ballistic.

"YOU DID WHAT!?" she screamed. Naruto felt himself shrinking down to a miniscule size as Tsunade's head appeared to grow larger with outrage. "Naruto Uzumaki, you have pulled some stupid stunts in your career, but this absolutely takes the cake and swallows it whole! You know how dangerous the Chunin Exams can be! How do you know that those kids will even survive? Let alone win!"

"I know how you feel," Naruto said reassuringly. "But believe me when I say that I know they can do it."

"Naruto," Tsunade muttered, still fuming. "Just because you believe in someone doesn't make them any stronger."

"Please, Grandma Tsunade." Naruto had look that somehow mixed pleading with determination. "Let them enter the exams."

Tsunade sighed as if in defeat. She knew that look in his eyes. She also knew exactly how stubborn he was. "Fine. I'll get some forms ready. But Naruto, the next time your brain tells you to do something, don't do it."

"No promises," Naruto said with a mischievous smile.

-o-

Later that night, at the Yamada house, Asa examined her new room. It was much smaller than her room back at the larger Mizuhana estate. Her bed was a single and looked as though nobody had slept in it for years. She sighed.

_Father will be outraged if he finds out about this,_ she thought. _Then again, I don't think he'd really care. It would probably only prove to him just how worthless I am._ She caught herself and shook her head. She knew she couldn't keep thinking about herself the way her father did. After a few more seconds of hesitation, she climbed into bed and pulled the sheets over her body.

As she slowly drifted off to sleep, she made a silent prayer that she had gotten into the habit of doing whenever she went to bed. _Mother… please watch over and guide me. Help me._ And with that, she fell asleep.


	10. An Opportunity

In Training Ground 8, Naruto was looking around for his coat. He had left it with Asa so that she wouldn't be too cold over the other night. He was going to look for it yesterday, but he got distracted with Asa's family issues. And of course, Hinata was going through a few of the side-effects of pregnancy. He sighed as he remembered his wife's mood-swings (she was calm and happy one minute, and saw red the next), weird cravings (she put ice cream in ramen, which even he gagged at the mere thought of), and morning sickness (she threw up all over him just before he woke up).

_How did I survive her being pregnant with Minato?_ he wondered glumly. After a few more minutes of searching, he finally found his coat, folded up but with dirt all over it. He sighed at the sight as he held it up. _I guess she was about to bring back until her dad found her._ He looked at the coat in his hands until he heard a noise.

"Naruto-sensei?" Asa said, clearly surprised to have found him.

"Hey, Asa," Naruto said with a smile and a wave. "What're you doing here?"

"I came to get your coat," she said. Then she wore a small smile. "But it looks like you beat me to it. I'm sorry I got it dirty, sensei."

"That's okay," he said as he tucked the coat under his arm. "So, how's your day so far?"

"Fine," she lied. "Everything's great. Couldn't be better."

"Asa." He said her name with a serious look. "You realize I'm a jonin, right? It's kind of hard to deceive a master of deception."

Her already small smile fell away. Could _everyone_ read her thoughts like this?

"I already know that you have problems in your family," Naruto continued. "I'm also aware that your father is forcing you to camp out here for a month."

"What? How?"

"I noticed you and Tai talking yesterday. I heard everything." He had a look of utter disappointment. But then he smiled again. "But don't worry. I've got an idea that just might help you win your father's respect."

"Huh? R-really?" Asa stuttered with a hopeful look in her eyes. "What is it?"

"You'll just have to wait for our team meeting later today," he said with that mischievous grin that almost always meant trouble. He walked away, leaving his student with an eerie chuckle. Asa suddenly found herself wondering if earning her father's respect was really worth it.

-o-

Later, at Team Nine's usual meeting spot, a bridge over a small river. Tai was tapping his foot aggressively. Once again, the three genin were left waiting for more than an hour for their sensei. And once again, Tai (and even Arashi, to some degree) was furious that the blond jonin was so late. Again.

"Hey, everybody!" said a cheerful voice. They looked up to see the familiar form of Naruto-sensei. "I would've been here sooner, but there was this old lady that needed help crossing the street, and she had a _lot_ of groceries."

"LIAR!" Tai screamed at the blond, who leaped down and landed on his feet. Tai sighed in an attempt to calm himself. "So, sensei, what's up for today? New missions? Special training?"

"Actually," Naruto said with a grin. He reached into his coat and pulled out what looked like a trio of permission slips. "Here. Take one each." He handed the papers to his students, who looked at him in confusion.

"What are these for?" Asa asked. Arashi stared at his paper incredulously, then looked up to Naruto, a questioning look in his eyes.

"These are sign-up forms for the Chunin Exams that begin in two weeks' time." Naruto explained.

"Chunin Exams?" Tai asked. Naruto nodded. "… What's that?" Naruto nearly face-planted.

"Seriously, Tai?" Arashi asked with a raised eyebrow. "The Chunin Exams are a series of tests that are held twice a year to select new chunin rank ninja from the best genin from all over the continent. How could anybody not know about that?"

Naruto chuckled awkwardly. "Er… let's just move on." He stood up and dusted himself off. "I've recommended the three of you for the exams."

"You have?" Asa asked. She was starting to wonder if this is what he intended for her to do to earn Father's respect.

"Yes. But I've gotta warn you; it'll be the most demanding, nightmarish, push-you-to-your-limits experience you'll ever have the misfortune of going through." The three genin sweat-dropped at his description of the Chunin Exams.

_Is he trying to motivate us,_ Tai thought. _Or make us piss ourselves before we even start the exams?_

"Um… sensei," Asa said with an awkward smile. "You're not exactly inspiring us here."

"Hm? Oh, sorry," Naruto said. "I must've been thinking about my first Chunin Exams, when an S-rank criminal infiltrated the village disguised as a Grass ninja and nearly killed me and my team." Once again, the three youths sweat-dropped. "Anyway, it's all up to you if you participate or not. And despite being potential nightmare fuel, the Chunin Exams are a superb way to test one's abilities. As I said before, it pushes you to your absolute limit, as you're likely to face opponents who are just as good as you are, if not better by a couple of landslides."

Tai chuckled at the thought of beating foreign ninja (and Arashi) to a pulp and then being promoted to chunin. Arashi believed that he may have found the perfect way to test the limits of his abilities. Asa saw it as the sliver of hope that will help her prove herself to be strong.

"All right, sensei!" Tai shouted excitedly. "Give me a pen! I'm definitely going make chunin!"

"You didn't bring your own pen?" Arashi chided his teammate. He was already finished signing his form.

"Why would I? How could I have known that I would need one today?"

"As a ninja, you must always be prepared. That's one of the basic rules for any truly _competent_ shinobi."

Before Tai could snap back at his teammate, Asa came between them, holding a pen out for Tai. "Come on, you guys! Save the snappy comments for _after_ the exams are over. We need to be a team!" The boys just stared at her. She sounded uncharacteristically confident, and her smile was from genuine excitement.

Tai shrugged it off and took the offered pen. He quickly signed his name onto his form, and Asa took her pen back and tucked it away.

"Okay," Naruto said as he clapped his hands and rubbed them together. "In two weeks, go to the Academy and head to room 301. That's where the first phase of the exams will be held."

"Got it, sensei!" Tai shouted, and he ran off to tell his mother the good news. Arashi slipped his hands into his pockets and walked off.

Asa turned to her sensei with a broad smile. "Thank you for this opportunity, Naruto-sensei!" She gave a quick, grateful bow. "I promise to make you proud!" She then turned and ran, sending him a wave of her hand. He simply smiled and looked up to the sky.

_I wouldn't worry about that, Asa. Not at all._ He pocketed his hands and walked home.

-o-

Behind a nearby tree, three figures watched the short display from the shadows. One was a boy with bright orange hair, and dark eyes, wearing an all-black jumpsuit, except for a golden, inverted triangle emblazoned on his back. Another figure was a girl with long, jet-black hair and gray eyes. She wore black sleeveless shirt under a short, gray jacket, along with dark blue ninja leggings.

The third boy, with silver hair and golden eyes, wore basic ninja clothing, that being a black, long-sleeved shirt and ninja leggings. His eyes narrowed in disapproval.

"Looks like a team of rookies is joining the Chunin Exams," the orange-haired boy said with an arrogant smirk. "Heh! Guess we'll have an easy time of it, huh, Tori?"

"Shut up, Yokomaru!" the girl, named Tori, said with an edge in her voice. "Do you want to jinx us or something, you idiot?"

"Be quiet, the both of you," the silver-haired boy said coldly.

"But, Ryuichi-!" Tori started, but the boy stopped her.

"I don't care who started it. Both of you are getting on my nerves."

"This coming from the King of Poker Faces," Yokomaru shot back. "Come on, lighten up, man! One of those rookies is your little sister! And we all know how weak she is!" He laughed a little. "We're gonna have it way easy!"

"Against one squad, yes," Ryuichi agreed. "But there will be a myriad of other teams from all across the continent. It won't be that easy."

"That is correct," said a man's voice. The three turned to see the silver-haired form of…

"Kurodo-sensei!" Yokomaru and Tori said in unison. They each gave a respectful bow to their teacher.

"Father," Ryuichi said with a short bow.

Kurodo nodded in the most minimal form of appreciation. "These Chunin Exams will be the challenge of a lifetime. I possess no doubts that you three would easily succeed where so many others have failed. You are the elite."

"Yes, sensei." the three said in unison. Yes. They were the elite. Of all the genin in the Hidden Leaf Village, they were the best. There was no way they would ever lose to anyone, especially not a team that has Asa Mizuhana slowing it down.


	11. Family

Tai and Asa arrived at the Yamada house with smiles on their faces. In two weeks, the Chunin Exams would begin, and they would show the world just how strong they really are. As they opened the door, with Tai announcing their arrival, Hikari came over to greet them.

"So, did anything exciting happen today?" she asked with a smile.

"You bet!" Tai shouted excitedly. "Naruto-sensei recommended us for the Chunin Exams! It's going to be our big chance to show the world just what we're made of!"

"It starts in two weeks!" Asa added happily. "I can't wait!"

"Wow!" Hikari said in happy surprise. "That certainly is exciting!" She then suddenly snapped her fingers. "Oh! And before I forget, I've got some news of my own to share with you, Tai."

"Really? What is it?"

"Is that my little grandson I see there?" said an old man's voice. Startled, Tai and Asa turned to see a tall, elderly man with a short gray beard, wearing a jonin uniform with a sword strapped to his back and a wakizashi tied onto his waist. He had a smile on his face that screamed, "Let's raise some hell!"

"Grandpa?" Tai said with a huge smile plastered on his face. "Wow, old man! You're back sooner than usual!"

The old man gave a hearty laugh. "It takes more than a little A-rank mission to stop me!" He glanced at Asa and raised an eyebrow. He then put on a sly smile. "So, Tai, would you care to introduce me to your little lady friend? Heh! You little dog, you!" Both Tai and Asa turned to a nice shade of tomato red.

"What?" Tai shouted. "Asa's just my friend and teammate!"

Hearing that, Asa calmed down a little, but felt a little disappointed. She collected herself and gave a polite bow. "I'm Asa Mizuhana, sir."

"Respectful to your elders, are you?" the old man said with that wide smile of his. "I like that! I'm Tai's grandfather, Shingen Yamada. Oh, and you don't have to worry about formalities. Just call me Shingen!"

"Er… okay, sir."

Shingen raised an eyebrow. "You seem nervous, Asa. Is something wrong?"

"N-no. It's just… I was taught to respect elders and upper-ranked shinobi. And… it's kind of hard to believe that I'm looking at both at the same time. Er, no offense intended!"

Shingen merely chuckled. "Well then, care to explain why you're here? It's not like my grandson to bring a cute little girl to the house!"

"Grandpa!" Tai shouted indignantly.

"Er… I … uh…" Asa couldn't quite manage to find the words.

"She's staying with us for a while, Shingen," Hikari said, which Asa gave a silent thank you for. "And don't worry about that at all. She's sleeping in the guest room."

"Well then," Shingen said as he crossed his arms. "That's perfectly fine with me. Now, what's this I hear about the Chunin Exams?"

-o-

In the hospital, Arashi entered his elder brother's room. The eighteen-year-old was reading a book before he noticed his little brother.

"Arashi!" Sora said with a welcoming smile. "It's been a while since your last visit. How've you been, little brother?"

"I have been fine," Arashi answered. He quickly studied his brother. Sora's gray eyes shone with warmth and kindness, but his body betrayed his condition. He was deathly pale, even with the sun's light constantly pouring through the large window. "You're getting worse, aren't you?"

Sora's smile shrank a little, but still lingered on his features. "Straight to the point as always I see. Heh. I used to be a high-level chunin on the road to finally becoming a jonin. Now look at me. It's hard to believe that I ever was a ninja, huh?"

Arashi hung his head a little. He hadn't meant to say anything that would hurt his brother's feelings. "My sensei has recommended my team for the Chunin Exams."

"That so?" Sora said with mild surprise. "Well, congrats little brother. And good luck. You'll need as much of it as you can get."

"Are the exams that difficult?"

"And then some," Sora laughed. "The first time I took part in the exams was one of the most brutal times in my life. I'm not allowed to say much about them, but I'll warn you… don't underestimate the first phase."

"Why not?" Arashi was genuinely curious now.

"Sorry, little brother, but that's about as much as I can say. Now get going. You're gonna need to start training if you want to stand a chance."

"All right," Arashi nodded. "Thank you, Sora. And I promise that I'll visit again, soon"

With one final goodbye from his brother, Arashi left the room, closing the door behind him. He sighed sadly and looked out a nearby window. He began to wonder how his mother and father would feel about Sora's condition. He remembered what the doctors and medical ninja had diagnosed the elder Jigoku with: cancer. The Hokage herself had given him at most two years, one of which had already passed. Recollecting himself, Arashi left the hall and soon returned to the waiting room, where he found a pair of familiar faces.

"Naruto-sensei?" Arashi called in a questioning voice. His sensei was there with his wife, Hinata, who smiled when she saw the genin.

"Hm? Oh, hey, Arashi!" Naruto said happily. "Funny meeting you here. Small world, huh?"

"I suppose," Arashi replied. He turned to look at Hinata, who had a hand on her stomach. "I can only assume that you two are here for a check-up."

"That's right," Hinata answered. "Just a routine one, to make sure that the baby is doing fine. Care to tell us why you're here?"

"I…" Arashi trailed off a little bit. "I was visiting my brother. He is very ill."

Hinata gasped a little. "Oh! I'm so sorry. I hope he gets well soon."

"So do I," Arashi muttered. "But I highly doubt hope alone will help him recover."

"Well, hope can't hurt," Naruto said. "Keep hoping, and I'm sure he'll be healthy again."

"I suppose so. But I once promised myself that I would find a way to help him. Simply hoping won't get me any closer to that goal."

"Well, all the more reason." Naruto said with his arms crossed and a warm smile on his face.

"Mr. and Mrs. Uzumaki," called the lady at the counter. "Lady Sakura is ready to see you both in room 23."

"Thank you," Hinata said as she took Naruto's hand. "Come on, Naruto. We don't want to be late, do we?"

"Right. See you later, Arashi!" The couple soon disappeared around a turn in the hallway. Arashi sighed as he left the hospital.

_Naruto-sensei,_ he thought as he walked down the street for home. _There's something about you. You are difficult to read._ He chuckled quietly to himself. _Then again, you _are_ a jonin._ With that thought, he continued down the street, considering all that had transpired today. _I will not let anyone down. I refuse to. For the sake of the Jigoku name, and my brother._


	12. Let the Games Begin

A week later, the team and their sensei spent most of their time training whenever and wherever they could. Naruto had pushed them constantly, and wouldn't let up. Their taijutsu had improved thanks to sparring matches against their teacher, who, mercifully, held back (only enough so that he wouldn't end up killing them). Ninjutsu wasn't really a problem, since they each had a knack for it. However, Arashi was the only one who seemed to be able to get genjutsu at all, thanks to his near-flawless chakra control.

"All right, guys," Naruto announced. "I think that's enough for now. Let's take a break. We'll continue in thirty minutes."

"Yes, sensei," the trio said together as they sat down. They started talking about the upcoming Chunin Exams, and what the competition was likely to be like. When they had ten minutes left in their break, though, someone interrupted.

"So," said a calm, quiet voice. "Here you are, Uzumaki."

The three genin and their sensei turned to see a pale man wearing a red, robe-like outfit that had a large gourd strapped to the back of it. The man had dark red hair and cold, light green eyes, which were rimmed by black circles. He had a metal plate that bore the hourglass symbol of the Village Hidden in the Sand sewn onto a sash that he wore slung over his shoulder. His expression was one of analytical composure, as if he could read a person's very thoughts.

"It has been a long time, Golden Fox of the Leaf," he said calmly. He looked at the three genin who were now standing up behind their sensei. "I see you have finally acquired students of your own."

"Yeah," Naruto said in a harsh tone. "And I can see that you haven't really changed much in the past two years." The two glared at each other coldly, as if getting ready to fight.

Asa looked back and forth between the pair, growing more and more nervous. She had never seen Naruto-sensei act so… cold. He was glaring at the other man emotionlessly. Tai was equally nervous, shockingly enough. Arashi stared in awe at the two adult ninja. He was actually _hoping_ that they would fight, so that he could see two jonin go all out. But before anyone could do anything, Naruto suddenly smiled and started laughing, catching his students completely off guard.

"Man, it has been a while, hasn't it?" he said as he shook the other man's hand firmly.

"Indeed," the redhead said, his face still void of emotion. "I hear from the Hokage that you and Hinata will soon have your second child. Congratulations."

"Thanks, pal. By the way, how's Matsuri doing?"

"She will give birth to our first child in about three months."

"That so? Great!"

"Whoa, whoa, whoa!" Tai interrupted as he pointed at the two accusingly. "You guys are friends?" Naruto looked at him in confusion, while the Sand Ninja simply raised an eyebrow.

"Of course," Naruto said flatly.

"But you guys looked about ready to kill each other!" Asa blurted out. "And now you're talking like old friends!"

"That's just how we greet each other," Naruto said plainly as he waved his hand, as if to brush to topic aside. "Anyway, I guess introductions are in order. Guys, this is Gaara, an old buddy of mine from when we were genin."

"Hello," Gaara said quietly. "It is a pleasure to meet you three."

"Um… hi," Tai said carefully. "The name's Tai Yamada."

"Arashi Jigoku," Arashi said with a polite bow.

"I… um…" Asa stammered. Gaara's gaze was so analytical and calm; it gave her the chills just to look him in the eyes. "I… I'm… Asa Mizuhana, sir. Pleased to meet you."

"You needn't be nervous, Asa," Gaara replied as the tiniest of smiles appeared on his face. "I will not hurt you." His tiny smile was enough to help Asa relax and recollect herself. It may have been small, but was a warm as Naruto-sensei's biggest grin.

"Gaara's surprisingly harmless to anybody he doesn't see as an enemy," Naruto assured his students. "Besides, he's too busy to be a bully." He then turned to look at his old friend. "Isn't that right, Lord Kazekage?"

"Lord WHAT!?" all three genin shouted simultaneously. "He's the Kazekage?" Asa asked with a dumbfounded look.

"But…" Tai stammered. "But he's no older than you, sensei!"

"You know what's even more unbelievable?" Naruto asked with a mischievous grin. "He became Kazekage when he was just fourteen."

All three students' jaws hit the ground so hard, craters formed. How could anyone become a Kage that young?

"I guess you're here for the Chunin Exams?" Naruto asked the Kazekage.

"Of course," Gaara replied. "Matsuri and I would like to catch up with you and the others soon, if it's not interrupting anything."

"Sure." Naruto turned to his students. "All right, guys, we'll call it a day. We'll come back tomorrow at eight sharp and continue then." With that, the Leaf Jonin and the Kazekage headed off to meet with their old friends, leaving the three rookies wondering: what just happened?

-o-

"That was really weird," Tai said as he swallowed the ramen noodles. Team Nine were all eating lunch at Ichiraku Ramen. After their sensei had taken them here to celebrate their passing the bell test, it had become a sort of meeting spot for them. "I mean, our sensei is friends with the Kazekage himself! I wonder what other secrets he's got!"

"I…" Asa started, but she stopped herself.

_"Listen, Asa. I don't want you telling anybody about what you saw. Not a soul. It's officially an S-class secret. Understand?"_ Naruto-sensei had said after that revealing dream on their scroll delivery mission.

When her teammates looked at her oddly, she saved herself with, "I don't know. It really makes you wonder, doesn't it?"

"Yes," Arashi said as he continued eyeing Asa suspiciously. "I agree."

-o-

One week later…

-o-

The Leaf Village Ninja Academy. A place where children can learn to harness their potential to protect their home. A place where friendships are forged and dreams are born. That is the Ninja Academy. However, it is also the place where the most grueling series of challenges ever devised by the human mind begins.

"Well," Asa said with a nostalgic tone. "Here we are. The Academy."

"It's hard to believe, isn't it?" Tai said. "We left this place thinking that we would never have to come back."

"But in order to become chunin, we must once again step foot within the building where it all began for us," Arashi said stoically. "Our paths have led us back here. I wonder if this is what they call fate?"

"Who knows?" Tai said with a smirk. "It's time to get this show on the road! I ain't losing to anyone!" He turned to his teammates. "Odds are that we'll end up having to face off against each other at some point."

"Very true," Arashi nodded grimly.

"What will do if that happens?" Asa asked worriedly.

"Isn't it obvious?" Tai said with confidence in his voice. "We go all out! No holding back!" When he saw Asa's worried face, he held out his hand, palm-down, waiting for them to join him. "And no hard feelings. Right?"

Asa smiled and nodded, putting her hand atop the back of Tai's. "Right. But until then…" She turned to face Arashi, who shook his head as he chuckled.

"We're a team," he said as he added his hand to theirs. "We are Team Nine. We will face all challenges and overcome them, even if those challenges make us face each other in battle."

"We are Team Nine!" they shouted in unison as they broke contact. With that, they entered the Academy once again, determined that they would succeed and make their families and sensei proud.

Let the games begin…


	13. The First Phase

Asa looked around nervously as her team passed several teams of genin, each more dangerous-looking than the last. She felt some reassurance thanks to the presence of Tai and Arashi. She couldn't help but feel as though she was in over her head with this. Many of the foreigners eyed her and her team with contempt, while others simply ignored their existence. She took a deep breath to calm herself down. She couldn't let her fears get the better of her.

As they approached the third floor, somebody called out to them, "Hey, guys!" The three turned to see a trio of familiar faces. The owner of one immediately tackled Asa in a bear hug.

"Asa!" the girl said. "It's been too long! Why haven't we talked since the Academy?"

"T-Torahime?" Asa asked in surprise, though she really shouldn't have been so shocked. Torahime Hyuga was _nothing_ like the majority of her clan. She was wild and outgoing, not to mention hard to predict. She had the basic Hyuga features – dark hair, pale and pupil-less eyes – and wore a light tan, formfitting jacket with black shinobi leggings, with her headband over her forehead.

"Are you really so surprised to me?" Torahime asked with a weird, loving look in her eyes. "Have you already forgotten my oath to stay by your side forever?" One last thing: Torahime Hyuga had very… unique interests.

"I, uh…" Asa stammered as she tried to think of a way out of this. "I really don't think that now's the time or place for this. Maybe we can talk later?"

The Hyuga girl was about to answer when a hand took hold of her jacket's hood and pulled her back. "Now's not the time for your goofing off, Torahime," said a boy with sloppy black hair and eyes like a wild dog's. He wore a black coat with what seemed to be civilian blue jeans. The only sign that he was a ninja was the headband that was tied around his right arm. A small, dark-furred puppy rested on his head.

"Oh, come on, Ken!" she complained. "I was just displaying my affections!"

Ken Inuzuka sighed. His team could be truly bothersome sometimes. To his right, he heard the laughter of his other teammate. "Come on, Ken! Relax a little, will ya? It couldn't hurt to have a little fun every now and then, right?"

"I'm not against it, Tatsumaru," Ken stated simply to the orange-haired, dark-eyed boy. "But like I said: now is not the time."

"Whatever, man," the other boy replied. He wore a dark red, formfitting short-sleeved shirt, along with the standard black ninja leggings. He smirked at Tai. "Hey, last pace. Long time, no see, huh?"

"Oh, shut up you loser," Tai said with a grin of his own. The pair high-fived each other with those cocky smiles of theirs. They had both shared the position of lowest grades in the Academy, and quickly developed a friendly rivalry. "How've you guys been doing?"

"A-Okay!" Tatsumaru said. He jerked a thumb towards himself. "These two would be lost without my leadership!"

"You mean Neji-sensei's leadership, right, Hoga?" Ken asked, using Tatsumaru's surname. Tatsumaru just glared at the Inuzuka, making Ken smirk slightly.

"Do you three always bicker like this?" Arashi asked. He was skeptical as to how they could possibly work as a team.

"Not always," Torahime assured him. "But we do have our moments."

"Um, guys?" Asa said, getting everybody's attention. "We should really get going before it's too late. We might end up disqualified." The group nodded in agreement, and they headed off to room 301.

-o-

As the doors opened up, Asa gulped apprehensively. She saw a large crowd of young ninja, all of whom looked ready to kill someone. Or, at the very least, seriously maim. Her friends didn't seem too bothered by it though, so she tried her best to look unfazed.

Tatsumaru gave an impressed whistle. "That's a lot of competition! Doesn't seem like anything that I can't handle though." He turned to his team. "How 'bout you guys?"

Both Ken and Torahime nodded in agreement. Asa couldn't help but give the three of them admiring looks. They didn't seem at all affected by the pressure that their sensei had placed on them in much the same way that Naruto-sensei had with her team.

"Asa," said a cold voice. Asa turned to see _him_ standing in front of her. Ryuichi Mizuhana stood with his own team, Tori Nara and Yokomaru Tenma. "I'm surprised that you came at all. I would've expected someone like you would've stayed away from a challenge like this. I guess miracles really do happen."

"Hey!" Tai shouted angrily. "Listen, pal, I don't know who you are, but you'd better shut your mouth before I shut it for you!"

Ryuichi regarded the younger genin with a disapproving look. "You must be a member of my sister's squad. I doubt you'd be so defensive otherwise."

"Sister?"

Arashi sighed. "He's her older brother, you idiot. He's Ryuichi Mizuhana, a prodigy in his clan."

"Her brother?" Tai asked. He then suddenly smirked and faced Ryuichi with fire in his eyes. "So you're a prodigy, huh? I guess that'll make it all the sweeter when I kick your ass in these exams!"

"Watch what you say, twerp!" Tori said aggressively. "Ryuichi could run circles around you and beat you to a pulp in the process!"

Yokomaru started snickering. "And the future wife defends her groom-to-be." That comment earned him a smack on the head from Tori, who was red with both embarrassment and rage. "What did I tell ya?"

"Shut up!" Tori shouted.

"Quiet," Ryuichi said commandingly. Both his teammates obeyed without question. The silver-haired boy faced Team Nine, then disregarded them completely, walking away with his teammates following.

Tai glared at the guy almost hatefully. "Man, that guy just pisses me off! How do you live with him as your brother, Asa?"

The golden-eyed girl shrugged. "I don't know." The truth was, she really didn't know. She had been tormented by her elder brother for as long as she could remember. She had no idea how or why she hadn't simply given up a long time ago. Maybe the memory of her mother was what drove her on. Or maybe she was just subconsciously stubborn. Or maybe she was too much of a coward to even just quit.

Whatever the possible explanation, it didn't matter now. A door at the far end of the room opened, and in walked a man in black trench coat, with a Leaf Village bandana wrapped on his head. Under his coat was a basic special jonin uniform. His scarred, scowling face held little remorse.

"I think we have more important things to worry about than Asa's personal life," Arashi pointed out as the man began writing a single word on the chalkboard.

_INFORMATION._

"All right, maggots," the man said in a rough voice. "I'm Ibiki Morino, the first proctor of the Chunin Exams. Take a seat, and I'll explain the first phase."

It wasn't long before everyone in the room had a seat. Asa, Tai, and Arashi all sat together, awaiting instruction. Ibiki eyed every genin in the room with a critical glare. It was as if he was looking for weak points that he could strike for the swiftest kill. After several tense seconds, the scarred man spoke.

"Information is one of the most invaluable assets to a ninja's line of work," he explained. "It can be beneficial to you and your village. It can also end up killing you and burning your home to the ground. The first phase of these exams will revolve around how well you can gather the necessary knowledge in order to succeed." He waved a hand, and a chunin walked into the room and handed Ibiki a folder. When the chunin left, the special jonin opened the folder. "Most of the time, you will gather intel discretely, without being noticed. However, sometimes, you will have to force the information out of a hostage."

Force a hostage to reveal secret information? Asa already didn't like where this was going.

Ibiki pulled a slip of paper out of his folder and held up in between his fingers. "Each team will be given a number. You are to go the room in this building with that number on the door. Inside each room will be an inmate from the Leaf Village maximum security prison."

One genin from the Grass Village raised his hand. Ibiki nodded, letting him speak. "Why are you including criminals in this test?"

"I was just getting to that," Ibiki answered. "Each prisoner holds information as to the location of a special item that will allow you to move on to the second phase of the exams. You will have one hour to interrogate the inmate. These prisoners have been promised that if they can successfully last that long without telling you where their corresponding item is, they will be given a full pardon for all crimes."

"But that's crazy!" one Leaf genin shouted. "You can't have all those criminals running loose!"

"Just one more incentive, isn't it?" Ibiki said with an almost sadistic smirk. "These guys have nothing to lose and everything to gain, so they'll either withhold information or try to deceive you. And one more thing: you are forbidden to cause any permanent physical damage. I'd wish the best of luck to all of you, but I doubt it'll help."


	14. Sagi the Trickster

_13,_ Asa thought as she, Tai, and Arashi headed down the hall to find the guy they needed to interrogate. She wasn't really the superstitious type, but she had a weird feeling that her team wasn't going to be very lucky. And besides that, there was a rumor that said that people have been murdered in room 13. All in all, it wasn't very encouraging.

Tai must've seen the distress in her eyes, because flashed a goofy grin at her and said, "Don't worry, Asa! We'll have this guy squealing in no time! Trust me! We'll be in the next stage of the exams for sure!"

Arashi scoffed quietly. "Considering the fact that we're dealing with a hardened criminal, I doubt it'll be that easy. Like the old saying goes: 'don't count your chickens before they hatch.'"

"Oh, come on, man! Don't be such a downer! We can do this no sweat!" Tai seemed boundlessly confident. Arashi rolled his eyes, but Asa could just barely see the tiniest of smirks on his face.

Eventually, they reached room 13. A pair of chunin stood on either side of the door. When Team 9 got to them, one of the chunin held out a tan folder for them. "Each squad of genin receives a folder with information about their respective criminal. Good luck."

"Thank you, sir," Asa said as she accepted the folder. The trio of genin entered the room.

It was a basic classroom, once one got past the cracked chalkboard, broken teacher's desk, and profane graffiti on the walls and student's desks. In the middle of this room, a sat in a chair, his hands and legs tied to the wooden seat.

"It's about time," the man said in a frighteningly calm voice. He dark green eyes glinted with malevolent glee. His black hair was a rat's nest. His only clothing was the typical outfit that dangerous prisoner would wear. "I was beginning to think that I was going to starve to death in the crap hole."

As Tai glared angrily, Asa opened the folder that the chunin had given her, and she began reading through it. "Sagi Kokushibyo, aka Sagi the Trickster. You were held not only for several con jobs, but also for supplying false information to companies, authorities, and even national leaders. All of which always led to innocent lives being taken, and extra cash in your pocket." Asa immediately saw how despicable this man must've been. The worst part was, in the mug shot in the folder, he looked completely smug, as though he were proud of himself. "I don't usually say stuff like this to new people, but you already disgust me."

Sagi chuckled. "Oh, come on, kid. You can't really blame me. It's fun to mess with people. And in all honesty, the pocket change I got in return for all that intel was just icing on an already perfect cake."

"I already hate this guy," Tai said with sneer.

"Let's just get this over with," Arashi said as he approached the criminal. "Tell us where the item is, and you will not be harmed."

Sagi suddenly laughed. "You think I'm intimidated by a bunch of snot-nosed brats who probably don't even know their own shoe size? Please. And besides, how can you ever know if tell you the truth? They don't call me the Trickster for nothing you know. Anything I say could be a lie."

"I hate to say it," Asa said with a regretful nod. "But I think he has a point. We'll have to watch him when he talks."

Arashi nodded his agreement before facing Sagi again. "You realize that you're talking to three shinobi, right? How do you know for sure that we won't hurt you to get what we want?"

"A couple things, really," the Trickster said with an arrogant smirk. "First, you're not allowed to cause me any permanent physical damage. Second, none of you have the eyes of a killer. You don't have the guts to torture a guy."

"Just tell us what we want to know," Tai demanded. Sagi grinned, probably thinking that he was going to have fun with them

-o-

And he did.

Thirty minutes later, the three genin were almost at their wits' ends. Tai was currently banging his head into the wall, while sat in a chair rubbing his temples. Asa just sat in a chair in front of Sagi, a confused, baffled look on her face. She could hardly believe that this guy was so skilled in the art of deception. He had even somehow gotten them to think that he was actually a spy working for the Leaf Village, keeping a covert eye on inmates at the prison. He actually had to tell them that he had blatantly lied to them for the young trio to stop believing him.

"Can't you ever just once tell the truth?" the silver-haired girl asked.

"I do occasionally," Sagi said with a shrug. "You have to blend a little bit of truth into a lie to really make it work. Take it from the master. But, you know, I'm actually getting a little bored of just messing with you kids. Think we can work out a deal?"

"We're not supposed to make deals with criminals," Asa pointed out as her teammates came to her side.

"True," the crook admitted. "But you'll want to hear this: I'm going to tell you where your precious little item is."

All three genin looked at him with wide eyes. After several moments of silence, Tai said, "You're just going to tell us where it is?"

"Well," Sagi continued. "Now that I think about it, 'tell' isn't quite the right word. I'm going to give you a simple riddle. If you answer correctly, you'll figure out where to look on your own. It's really quite simple, isn't it?"

The trio stared at him in disbelief. Was he really going to just give them a riddle so that they could find their item? The three of them went over into a corner to debate.

"We can't trust him," Arashi stated. "He's notorious for his lies. His riddle would end up sending us on a wild goose chase."

"But this could be our big chance!" Tai explained. "How many other teams would be able to get their items just by answering a riddle?"

Asa thought about for several tense seconds. It was true that Sagi the Trickster was completely untrustworthy. But it was also true that this might be their only shot. They could spend an hour arguing with a master liar, or they could answer a riddle that might be even more challenging. Eventually, she sighed and said, "I don't think we want to waste time. We only have about twenty minutes left on the clock anyway. We'll have to answer the riddle."

Tai nodded, and Arashi reluctantly agreed. The three genin returned to Sagi, each of them with confident looks. Arashi said, "You have a deal. Tell us your riddle."

"I thought you'd never ask," the Trickster said with a sly grin. He then cleared his throat. "One watches the forest, two watch the rivers. Three teach the young, four guard the gates, while five lead the people. Who are the guardians?"

"Guardians?" Tai asked with a raised eyebrow. "What the hell does that mean?"

Sagi laughed. "Ah, you kids just kill me! It's a riddle, genius. It wouldn't be any good if I just told you what the answer was. And before anyone asks, I'm not lying about this. The answer will be the honest truth. And if not, then may I be executed within a year."

Tai crossed his arms in thought. "Maybe the item is hidden somewhere in the forest, or a river?"

"And how many items do you think are hidden there?" Arashi pointed out. Tai was about to argue, but quickly realized that dark-haired Jigoku had a point.

Asa thought hard about Sagi's riddle. _One watches the forest… two watch the rivers… hmm._ She began pacing, her mind working at a thousand miles a minute. She soon found herself at the window, which had a good view of the village. She could see the Hokage Monument, proud and tall, each face watching over the people of the Hidden Leaf Village. Just then, a thought came to her. _Wait…_

"Fifteen minutes left, kiddies," Sagi warned with a cocky smirk.

"I think I've got it," Asa said, getting everyone's attention. "I think I have the answer."

"Really?" the Trickster asked. "Well, don't keep it a secret, kid. Do tell."

Asa ignored him and faced her friends. "Think about it," she said. "'One watches the forest, two watch the rivers. Three teach the young, four guard the gates, while five lead the people.' He's talking about multiple people doing the same thing. He listed numbers, not groups."

"What are you getting at?" Arashi asked with a raised eyebrow.

"The First Hokage was famed for his mastery over Wood-Style ninjutsu," the silver-haired girl pointed out. "And where would wood typically come from?"

"The forest?" Tai suggested. Then his eyes went wide. "Oh, I get it now!"

"The Second Hokage mastered Water-Style," Arashi said. "That can mean rivers. And the Third Hokage was often called the Professor, which can be a title held by a teacher."

"The Fourth Hokage was regarded as the hero of the Leaf Village," Asa stated. "And the Fifth Hokage, Lady Tsunade, is our current leader. In other words…"

"Our item must be on the Hokage Monument!" Tai said as he finally pieced it together. Sagi chuckled.

"Good work, kids," he said with smirk. "You did all right. Now go get your precious little item before you're disqualified."

"Aren't you upset that you'll be going back to prison?" Asa asked.

"Don't you only have ten minutes before this phase of the Chunin Exams is over?"

"Crap!" Tai shouted. "He's right! Come on, you guys! Let's get that item!" With that, he and Arashi dashed out of the room.

Asa gave one last look at Sagi Kokushibyo. She then left without a word. Sagi chuckled. He really did have fun messing with those kids. In truth, he didn't really care whether he won or not. Just being able to mess with someone's head was enough for him.

_Good luck, you little brats,_ he thought. _After what I put you through, you deserve promotion._

-o-

**This chapter seems a little lackluster to me. Oh well. I hope you enjoyed it anyway. Sagi's really not such a bad guy. He really just likes messing wit people.**


	15. Phase 2 Begin

Ibiki and a pair of chunin were checking off passing teams as they arrived with their items. Unsurprisingly, the team trained by Kurodo Mizuhana was one of the first to return, followed by a couple other Leaf teams and some foreign squads. Ibiki checked his watch for a moment. There were only five minutes left, and it didn't seem like anyone else was coming.

"All right," he said to the gathered teams, "listen up, maggots! The next phase-"

"Wait!" called a girl's voice. Ibiki turned to see a trio of Leaf genin sprinting toward them. Asa Mizuhana, Tai Yamada, and Arashi Jigoku arrived with just few minutes to spare. The silver-haired girl held up their item, a small box with the number 13 etched into it. All three were panting. Asa said, "We… made it…"

Ibiki looked at them with a raised eyebrow. He then smirked in amusement. "Yes, you did. Now get in line."

"But what about our item?" Arashi inquired.

"I'll explain about them in a moment," Ibiki assured them. He then motioned for them to join the crowd of young shinobi.

As they joined the cluster, Asa was suddenly tackled to the ground. "Oh, my precious Asa!" said Torahime Hyuga. "I was so worried that you weren't going to make it! Don't get me wrong, I have faith in your abilities, but your mean brother said that you were going to fail, and I naturally got worried about you! I'm so happy that you passed!"

"Tora… hime…" Asa said in pained gasps. "Can't… breathe…" Torahime looked at Asa with her pale eyes and immediately freaked out when she realized the golden-eyed girl was practically suffocating.

"Ah! Don't die on me, Asa!"

Tai and Arashi just stared at the sight, and were soon joined by Ken Inuzuka and Tatsumaru Hoga. Tai pointed at the two girls and said, "That is actually kind of funny. She act like that a lot?"

"What do you think?" Tatsumaru said as he and Ken pulled a struggling Torahime off of Asa. "Every time she sees a pretty girl, she goes into flirt mode, the little nutcase."

"I heard that!" Torahime shouted indignantly. She then stomped on both their feet, causing them to cry out in pain and hop on their good feet while holding their injured ones. Torahime crossed her arms with a pouty expression. "I don't particularly appreciate being called a nutcase, or anything offensive for that matter."

"Right, fine," Tatsumaru said as he rubbed his foot. "I think you nearly broke one of my toes."

"Suck it up, you pansy."

They turned when they heard Ibiki clear his throat. "Attention, maggots! Congratulations on passing the first phase of the Chunin Exams. Now, each team has a box containing a certain item. Open it." Every squad did just that. Asa opened the small box and pulled out a bright red scroll that, surprise, had the number 13 written on it. "These scrolls are necessary for the next phase. The proctor for the second stage will be here-" Suddenly, a tan-colored blur crashed through the window. "-now."

The blur that jumped through the window tossed two kunai in either direction, the small blades locking in the walls and holding up a banner that said, "The Amazing Anko Mitarashi!"

"Hey there, you little brats!" the person who threw the kunai said as she stood with a cocky grin on her face. She wore a tan trench coat and miniskirt, along with a gray, formfitting top that showed off her… impressive figure. She had purple hair tied back in a spiky ponytail and wild brown eyes. The look in those eyes nearly bordered on the psychotic. "I'm the proctor for the next phase of the Chunin Exams! Anko Mitarashi!"

Silence.

After several quiet moments, Torahime said, "She's kind of hot."

"Control yourself," Ken warned her.

Torahime shrugged. "I said she was hot. I know she's too old for me though. I'm not stupid."

"Could've fooled me," Tai remarked just before promptly getting bludgeoned half to death by the Hyuga girl.

"Okay, maggots, listen up!" Anko called. "Follow me, and we'll start the next phase of the exams! And trust me, it's gonna be one hell of a ride!"

Asa gulped somewhat nervously. She already didn't like where this was going.

-o-

And she had good reason. Anko had led them all to Training Ground 44, a place notoriously known in the Leaf Village as the "Forest of Death." Not exactly subtle, but well-earned. The forest was teeming with poisonous plants, man-eating creatures, insects the size of houses, and twisted, malformed trees that made the Hokage Tower look like a play set. All in all, it downright intimidating.

"Well, before I send you all to fight for your very lives," Anko began with a sadistic grin on her face, "I guess I should explain how this works. Each team has a scroll acquired from the first phase of the exams. These scrolls are your tickets to the third and final phase. That is, if you can hold onto them."

"What do you mean by that?" asked a random foreigner who appeared to be from the Sand Village.

Anko chuckled darkly. "You see, there'll be more than just animals in there for you to wrestle with. Already in the forest are groups of jonin waiting for you. Their goal is to capture and destroy your scroll, thereby eliminating you from the exams."

_There are jonin in there?_ Asa thought fearfully. _Then could Naruto-sensei be in there, too?_ Perhaps her team's sensei would be willing to let them go. Of course, that was just wishful thinking, and she knew it.

"If you avoid the jonin," Anko continued, "your goal is to reach the center of the forest. There's a tower there where this phase will end. You're free to do whatever you like to impede the other squads. Also, you are not allowed to open those scrolls until you reach the tower." She moved to start the exam, but then stopped as if she had just remembered something. "Right, two more things! You only have three days to get to the tower!" She then motioned to a couple of chunin standing at one of the gates that led into the forest. One of them came over and handed her a huge stack of paper. "We'll also need you to sign these release forms, just in case. You wouldn't want me to lose my job just because a couple of you died, would you?"

Asa sweated practical bullets as she almost robotically signed the form.

When all the signed forms were returned to Anko, she handed them over to the chunin who had them originally. "All right, maggots! Get to the gate with the same number as your scroll! The exam will begin in thirty minutes! No exceptions!"

"Good luck, Asa!" Torahime called to the silver-haired girl as she left to join her team. Asa just waved back with an awkward smile.

"C'mon, Asa," Tai said, jerking his thumb to point behind him. "Let's go."

"We wouldn't want to fail because we were too late for the second phase of the exams," Arashi stated as he began to walk off toward one of the gates.

Asa nodded and joined the two boys. When they finally made it to the gate with the number 13 emblazoned above it, there were still about ten minutes left. Team Nine braced themselves to begin. The minutes suddenly became hours to them. There was tension in the air. The Forest of Death loomed menacingly, eager for its next victims.

Anko checked her watch. "Ten… nine… eight… seven…" Her countdown only made the tension stronger. "Six… five… four… three…" The chunin at each gate prepared to open the paths to the forest. "Two… one… GET OUT THERE!"

The gates swung open, and every squad charged into Training Ground 44. The real test had finally begun.

-o-

**Anko is awesome. That is all.**


	16. Day One

**Last chapter, I was asked three good questions by a guest reviewer, and I've decided to answer them.**

**Q1: Did you make them Team 9 to represent the Nine-Tailed Fox?**

**A1: Honestly, I have no idea. I don't really think when I write. Stuff just kind of happens.**

**Q2: Wouldn't the proctors change?**

**A2: In the canon story, probably. I was just too lazy to come up with new characters. Besides, I really wanted to use Anko.**

**Q3: WHY DID YOU MAKE ONE OF THEM A LESBIAN!? (Own Note: This is actually how it was put. I'm not kidding.)**

**A3: Mostly for comic relief. Originally though, Torahime Hyuga was not intended to be a lesbian, but I like how she turned out. Plus, doesn't she just make things more interesting?**

**Well, with that out of the way, enjoy!**

-o-

"Man, this pace is creepy," Tatsumaru said as he and his team walked through the Forest of Death. All manner of bizarre sounds and shadows could be heard and seen in the jungle. To say that it was unnerving would've been an understatement. "Is it just me, or are there trees growing out of the trees?"

"They're called branches, genius," Ken deadpanned, his little dog Shinzo sniffing the air. She whined a little, and Ken patted her head comfortingly. "This place reeks of death."

"Well, they don't call it 'the Forest of Death' for nothing you know," Torahime said snidely. She huffed and closed her eyes. "Byakugan!" Her eyes snapped back open, the veins bulging around her pale orbs and granting her an intense glare. All three were silent for several seconds. "The other teams are already further in the forest. But there's one team a few meters off to our right. From what I can see, I guess that they're from the Hidden Stone Village. They appear to tailing us. They probably think they can thin out the competition."

Ken sniffed the air, as did Shinzo. "I have their scents. They're there all right." He nodded to Tatsumaru, who smirked.

"Got it," he said with a nod as he knelt down, pressing his right index finger into the dirt. He made a one-handed sign. "This is gonna be good. Don't blink, guys."

-o-

The three Stone ninja eyed the trio of Leaf genin with arrogant grins. This would be easy. Go in, take them out (maybe play with the girl a little bit), and get out. "All right, boys," the middle one said, "let's go!"

Just as they leapt from their hiding place, however, three, huge, thorn-covered vines exploded out of the ground and wrapped all three of them, holding them in midair. "What the hell!?" one of them shouted as he struggled against the vine's grip on his body.

"Don't bother trying to break free," Torahime informed them. "Tatsumaru's jutsu is inescapable. Besides, the more you struggle, the tighter the vines hold you."

"You'll be there for a long time," Tatsumaru said as he and his team began walking away. He threw his hand up to wave the three Stone genin a goodbye. "See you guys in the afterlife!" And they were gone, leaving the trio who had tried to attack them kicking and screaming until…

_CRUNCH!_

-o-

Anko laughed when she heard the screams. "Sounds like first blood," she mused to herself. She chuckle darkly. "The crowd this time around looked promising. This oughtta be good." She Leaped and dashed into the forest, not wanting to fall behind the other jonin.

-o-

Asa cringed when she heard those pained cries that stopped so suddenly. She already didn't like this forest. The trees' branches cast dark, looming shadows over them, looking like massive choking hands trying to grasp at their feet. "This place is really freaking me out," she said, looking worried.

"Don't worry, Asa," Tai said with a reassuring grin. "We'll face anything and anyone that comes our way! And we'll take them down!"

"Don't get cocky," Arashi warned the redhead. "I've read about this forest. What the proctor said about this place is more or less on the money. We need to be careful how make our way through."

"We've only got three days," Tai pointed out. "We have to hurry, too."

"I know that, fool," the Jigoku replied. "But that doesn't mean we have to go barreling through the trees. 'The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.' We have to take things slowly." Tai reluctantly nodded his understanding. As much as he wanted to, he couldn't argue, Arashi's logic.

"I think it's better if we keep moving," Asa recommended. The two boys nodded, and Team 9 headed off into the Forest of Death.

-o-

Ryuichi, Tori, and Yokomaru didn't even flinch when they heard those screams. Instead, Yokomaru grinned sadistically. "Sounds like the fun's already started," he said darkly. "I can't wait 'til we get to fight. If this exam lives up to its rep, then things should get interesting pretty fast."

Tori smirked cockily. "Personally, I would just love to break Asa's little boy toys. What about you, Ryuichi?"

"Asa will be disqualified or dead by tomorrow morning," Ryuichi stated with finality. With that said, the three of them continued through the forest, confident with absolute certainty that they would pass with flying colors.

-o-

Outside the forest, a lone masked man stood, eyeing the massive trees that towered over him. His eyes narrowed, malevolence visible in his pupils.

"She is near," he muttered to himself as he dashed into the Forest of Death.

-o-

Sunset came at a surprising speed, and if at all possible, the forest became even more unsettling. There any noise that could be heard by the human ear. It was dead silent.

"Here's the firewood," Tai said when he finally returned from collecting the branches.

Asa nodded and took what her teammate had brought, placing it in the center of a circle of rocks that she had placed. Arashi then ignited the branches with light fire jutsu. The trio sat in a triangle pattern around the fire. None of them said anything. There really wasn't much to say. They simply sat in silence.

Tai inevitably got tired of the dim quiet. "Hard to believe that the first day is already going."

"Yeah," Asa agreed, her golden eyes never leaving the glow of the campfire. "Just two more days. After that, we'll either have passed or failed. Or worse."

Arashi nodded grimly. "This place will test us, push us beyond our limits. In order to make it out of here, we need to be prepared for anything. We should have plans in place for all manner of situations." The other two genin nodded, seeing the clear logic in Arashi's reasoning. "All right. First thing's first: let's set up a watch regimen. We'll have to take turns each night to make sure that we aren't caught off guard."

"First!" Tai shouted with his hand in the air. "Called it!"

Arashi sighed, then laid down to get some sleep. "Wake me in about three hours." He closed his eyes and seemed to tune out the rest of the world.

Asa lay down on the ground as well. "Goodnight, Tai."

"Night, Asa."

The silver-haired kunoichi shut her eyes. Sleep came surprisingly fast.


	17. The Rocks

Sunlight streamed in through the forest canopy and splashed warmly on Asa's face. She yawned as she sat up on the ground and stretched out her tired limbs. She looked around and frowned. Even in the early morning, the Forest of Death maintained a dark atmosphere. She looked over at Arashi, who was apparently keeping watch.

"Good morning," he said simply.

"Good morning, Arashi," Asa replied. She looked around again and noticed that Tai was gone. "Where's Tai? Shouldn't he be with us?"

"He said he had to use the bathroom." Arashi scoffed. "Like there are any toilets out here."

"Okay." Asa stood and quickly stretched out her legs. Suddenly, she turned at the sound of a twig breaking. It came from the bushes to their far left. "Did you hear that?"

"Yes," the dark-haired boy confirmed calmly as he reached for a kunai. He stood ready, his form rigid. Asa readied her own kunai. "We know you're there!" Arashi called to whoever was staying out of sight. "Show yourself!"

The bushes parted then, and out stepped three genin who each wore headbands that bore the symbol of the Village Hidden in the Rocks. "Hey, Leaf brats," the middle one said. He looked about fifteen, with shaggy brown hair and dark blue eyes. He wore a red, sleeveless top and brown shorts with kunai holsters on both legs. He had a cocky grin plastered on his face. "What luck that we found such obviously easy prey."

"Hey, Rokuro," the girl of the three asked with a malicious grin. "Can I have that boy with the dark hair? He looks like fun." Her hair was a dark blond, her eyes light brown. She wore a black, formfitting, one-piece jumpsuit that had the word "wild" emblazoned right across her chest in white. Her headband was tied firmly around her right arm.

"If you want, Ishiko," the guy called Rokuro said with a nod. He turned slightly to face the third person in their group. "What about you, Toshio? You want the girl?"

"I'm fine with whatever," the guy called Toshio replied smoothly. He ran his hand through his black hair almost lazily, his calculating green eyes analyzing the two Leaf genin. He wore a black t-shirt and dark blue shinobi leggings. He raised an eyebrow at them curiously. "Shouldn't there be three of them?"

"Who cares?" Ishiko said cockily. She sprinted straight at Arashi. "Let's just have some fun!"

Arashi reacted immediately, practically tearing through hand signs, and stopped with tiger. "Fire Style: Dragon's Breath!" He spat out a wave of fire at the Rock kunoichi, but she suddenly sank into the ground, disappearing from sight as the stream of fire set a large tree trunk ablaze. "Where did-?"

"Behind you," the girl's voice answered. Before he could react, Amaya slammed her leg into his back and sent him flying into an unlit tree. He crashed face-out, upside-down.

"Arashi!" Asa called just before that Rokuro guy appeared in front of her, a sadistic gleam in his eye. He grabbed her by her arms, and she struggled against his much stronger grip.

"You're kind of cute, girl," he said cruelly. He grinned evilly. "I think I'll play with you for a little bit. What do you say to that?" Asa stared at him with fear evident in her eyes. She wasn't strong enough to break free of his grasp. Whatever he was going to do, she could only hope that it would be over quickly.

Suddenly, a kunai shot out from the trees and embedded itself into Rokuro's arm, eliciting a shout of pain from the Rock ninja, who released Asa and stumbled back. "Geez," called the voice of Tai Yamada, "I go to take a leak for five minutes, and Arashi lets some jerk get his hands on Asa? Talk about lame."

"Tai!" Asa called out in relief. The redhead jumped down from the branch that he was standing on and landing in a kneeling position, his cocky grin never leaving his face.

Ishiko sneered and said, "Just who the hell do you think you are, you little brat!?"

"I'm Tai Yamada," he answered, pointing a thumb to himself. "I'm a member of the Hidden Leaf Village's own Yamada clan!" He pulled out a pair of kunai from his holster and held one in each hand in a reverse grip. "You wanna go at it?"

Toshio narrowed his eyes at the cocky redhead. _The Yamada clan…_ he thought. _So he's one of them._

"You'll pay for that, you little snot!" Rokuro shouted as he yanked the kunai out of his arm. "I'll kill you!"

"Rokuro, wait," Toshio said in a warning tone. The brown-haired teen faced him with a confused look. Toshio paid him no heed, keeping his attention on Tai. "You're of the Yamada clan, hmm?"

"Yeah, why?" Tai replied.

Toshio shook his head out of disbelief. "Never mind." He turned to leave.

"Toshio, where the hell do you think you're going!?" Rokuro shouted angrily.

"We're leaving, Rokuro, Ishiko," Toshio stated in a commanding voice. He turned slightly to look over at Tai. "I have a feeling that you and I will face each other in the near future. Be ready for that, Yamada. With that, the three Rock ninja left as if nothing happened.

"What was that all about?" Tai asked as he and went to check on the unconscious Arashi.

"I have no idea," Asa admitted. She and Tai tugged and yanked Arashi out of the tree and laid the young Jigoku on the ground. "Those two seemed eager to fight, but that other guy… Tai, he seemed to be somewhat interested in you. Specifically your clan."

"Really?" Tai asked brilliantly. "Huh. I can't think of a reason why he would be so interested. My clan isn't really all that important."

-o-

"What the hell, man!?" Rokuro shouted at Toshio, who barely acknowledged Rokuro's ranting. "I was just about to kick that punk's ass! Why didn't you let me!?"

"Because, genius," Toshio began to explain, "I want to fight that kid myself."

"Then why didn't you do it back there?" Ishiko asked with a curious glance.

"I want to see if he can make it through this forest. If he can, he may prove to be a decent opponent."

Rokuro backed up a little, understanding his teammate's reasoning. "Testing the twerp, eh? Heh. That's Toshio for ya. You really are a little sadist deep down, aren't you?"

"So is everyone," Toshio replied with a shrug. "It's just more apparent in some than others."

-o-

Arashi sat up, groaning awkwardly he felt his back throb in slight pain. He suddenly became alert and looked around, finding only Asa and Tai. "Where are those three Rock ninja?"

"Gone," Asa said. "They left for some reason when Tai showed up. One of them said that he and Tai were probably going to fight sometime soon."

"Yeah," Tai said with a nod. "He seemed weirdly intrigued by my surname, Yamada."

Arashi's mind naturally started working on a million different reasons as to why the enemy would have spared them. It could be possible that they would patiently wait for the next phase of the exams or something, but it was unlikely. Perhaps one of them realized that they were all pressed for time? Yes, that made the most sense. It seemed that every ninja team had at least one person who knew what they were doing.

"We should get going," Arashi suggested, standing up carefully. He stumbled a little, feeling strangely dizzy. A concussion, he surmised. "We don't know what will come after us next. Personally, I don't really want to find out."

"Right," Tai and Asa said at the same time. The three members of Team 9 dashed off, quickly leaping into the trees and hopping from branch to branch.

-o-

Back in the area where Team 9 had spent the night, a lone figure stood, scratching at the ground a little. A huge white dog circled the area for a few seconds before barking loudly. The figure smirked at the dog's actions and hopped onto the huge animal's back.

"All right, boy!" he said. "Let's go hunting!" The dog barked again and dashed with unbelievable speed… right in the same direction as Team 9.

-o-

**By the way, Tai's grandfather, Shingen Yamada, is named after an actual person from Japanese history. Can anyone tell me who?**


	18. Triple Threat

They were just halfway to the center of the forest, at least from what they could tell. Asa had assumed that they had made a good distance into the 44th training ground, but everything looked so similar that it was difficult to tell. They had decided to take a short break at a river, where they quickly filled a set of canteens that Arashi had sealed in a scroll and took a drink.

"Man, this place is disorienting," Tai stated as he drank from his canteen. "If we hadn't found this river, I would've thought that we were going around in circles."

"We almost were, thanks to you," Arashi said bluntly, earning him a glare from the redhead.

"Come on, guys, don't fight," Asa said. "We're almost through the forest. Can't you at least pretend to get along? Please?"

"Fine," both boys said at the same time, making Asa giggle a little. Perhaps they knew how to agree on some things after all.

-o-

A jonin and his huge ninja hound watched the three genin from a nearly perfect vantage point. The jonin smirked at his luck. If he wasn't mistaken, those three were Naruto Uzumaki's students. This was just too perfect! He faced his dog and said, "Stay. Wait for the signal." The giant dog wagged its tail to show its understanding of the order.

-o-

Arashi was just about to go and try to catch some fish when a black blur shot out of a tree overhead, landing right in front of them. The young Jigoku immediately pulled out a kunai, with Tai and Asa doing the same. The man who had appeared before them stood up to his full height. He had wild brown hair and a Leaf headband on his forehead. His eyes held slit pupils that gave him a bestial appearance. On his cheeks were red fang tattoos, and he wore a black leather jacket and dark ninja leggings.

"Hey, there!" he greeted with a grin that was even cockier than Tai's. "You must Naruto's brats!"

"What? How do you know Naruto-sensei?" Asa asked in surprise.

The man chuckled. "He and I go way back. Name's Kiba Inuzuka! Nice to meet ya."

Arashi didn't let his guard down for a second. "I'm guessing you're one of the jonin that are roaming this forest to impede us."

Kiba laughed and gave a nod. "Damn right. And to tell the truth, I was kind of hoping to bump into you kids. I've been wanting to put Naruto's team to the test ever since he became a sensei." He dropped into a fighting stance. "So, you kids ready?"

"Three on one?" Tai said with a slightly smug grin. "This'll be a cakewalk."

"Don't underestimate the enemy," Arashi warned. "He's a jonin. We have no idea what he's capable of."

Kiba grinned. "You're right about that." He then whistled suddenly. The bushes far behind Team 9 exploded, a huge figure bounding out and landing with a ferocious snarl. The figure was a huge, light brown dog. The beast was as big as a horse. "Meet Akamaru. He's my ninja hound. And he's ready to maul your face off if necessary."

-o-

A sole figure hid in the bushes, watching as Team 9 faced Kiba Inuzuka and his impossibly huge dog. _It appears that I have been beaten to the punch,_ he thought. His attention quickly fell on Asa. _Perhaps I can still get to her if I jump in…_

-o-

"NOW!" a voice suddenly called out of nowhere. Yet another figure burst out of the bushes, a simple green blur.

"Oh, great, now what!?" Tai shouted.

Asa watched on nervously as the newcomer landed gracefully on his feet, his green leotard covered by the green jonin vest that he wore making him almost invisible in the greenery behind him. His hair was black and cut into a bowl style, and his eyebrows were enormous. His eyes were frighteningly round, and his irises were dark. He wore his Leaf Village headband around his waist like a belt. "Who are you?" the silver-haired girl asked.

The strange-looking man's eyes lit up with glee. "I am glad that you asked!" he shouted. He took on an overdramatic pose. "I am the beacon of light that pierces darkness! I am the man who all men aspire to be! I am the embodiment of the power of youth! I am Rock Lee, the Hidden Leaf Village's own Beautiful Green Beast!"

There was an awkward silence as the genin and Kiba just stared at him, dumbfounded expressions on their faces. Kiba groaned and said, "Dammit, Lee, do you always have to be such a showboat!?"

"I cannot help it!" Lee proclaimed with fire in his eyes. "The power of youth compels me!"

"Power of youth?" Asa asked.

"That guy's completely out of his mind, isn't he?" Tai asked.

"Most likely," Arashi agreed.

"Do I hear doubt from the genin?" the bushy-browed man shouted. "Well, I suppose I have no choice but to show just what I mean! Any one of you may come to challenge me!"

"Lee, I got here first!" Kiba screamed at him, Akamaru barking in agreement. "GO find your own opponents, will you!?"

"I will only fight one opponent! You may have the others!"

"He's only going to fight one of us?" Asa inquired. "Should I be relieved or terrified?"

"I shall fight…" Lee held out his hand, his finger pointing toward the trio. He moved his hand until it landed on his intended opponent. "You!"

"What? Me?" Asa couldn't think of anything to say other than that.

"Yes! And I shall not hold back! Now come face me, Asa Mizuhana!"

"How did you know my name?" She didn't get an answer. Lee simply charged forward, ready to fight.

"Asa!" Tai shouted as she was dragged away by that crazy green guy.

"Tai, she's not our only concern at the moment!" Arashi chided. He watched the fuming Kiba Inuzuka carefully, waiting for his first move. As much as Tai hated to admit, the Inuzuka man and his monstrous dog were probably just going to block them from getting to Asa in time to help her. They would have to take care of them in order to get to Asa.

Kiba sighed in annoyance. "Damn that guy," he muttered. He then smirked up at the two boys. "Oh, well. At least he left you guys for me. Now, I guess I'll cut loose right here!"


	19. Hagane Nayami

Asa could do nothing but run from the eccentric jonin who, for whatever reason, was so intent on fighting her. The man was far faster than anyone she had ever met before. It was like there was nothing giving him any resistance, letting him run at a nearly impossible speed.

"You cannot flee forever!" Rock Lee shouted with an excited fir in his eyes. "You will never be able to outrun me! I am the fastest ninja in the Hidden Leaf Village!"

Asa tried to ignore that. She knew that she likely didn't stand much of a chance against the bowl-haired jonin, and that all she could do was run. She couldn't challenge a jonin all by herself. It would just be suicide. She needed to get away and get back to Tai and Arashi.

Suddenly, a foot slammed into her back, sending her flying into a massive tree, in which her body left a human-shaped impression. She climbed out of the whole, thanking whatever deity was watching out for her that her back hadn't been shattered by that blow. She saw Lee standing several feet away in a stance she hadn't seen before. He had a look on his face that was both happy and intense at the same time.

"Take your stance, Asa Mizuhana!" he shouted with a grin. "I, Rock Lee, the Hidden Leaf Village's Beautiful Green Beast, wish to see what you have got!"

"Could I take a rain check please?" Asa asked with a nervous laugh.

"Do not disappoint me!" the jonin replied as he dashed at her with his fist at the ready. Asa shrieked and jumped to the left as Lee's fist tore through the tree, with him going all the way through. This sight made her feel more than a little mortified. Was he actually trying to kill her, or did he just not know how to hold back?

_I guess I have no choice,_ she thought as she drew a kunai out of her holster. She charged at the jonin, who simply leaped out of the way and flicked the side of her head with his finger. She slashed at him with her kunai, but leaped away again, this time twirling through the air as if to do a roundhouse kick.

"Leaf Hurricane!" he shouted as he threw his kicks with enough speed power to create a miniature tornado. Asa managed to evade the kicks, but was blown back by the powerful gale that followed. She quickly balanced herself on a tree branch, and looked up at the green-clad man in awe. "What is the matter? Show me the full extent of your ability!"

Asa responded completely on instinct. She ran through a series of hand signs. "Lightning Style: Ball Lightning Jutsu!" From her palms came a sphere of pure electrical energy, which charged relentlessly towards Lee. The dark-haired man leaped to dodge the attack, which collided with the side of a tree and exploded, sending streaks of electricity in all directions. One bolt managed to land a blow onto Lee's foot, throwing slightly off balance. He landed on a branch with a grunt, then stood tall one again.

"An impressive jutsu," he said as he turned to face Asa with a toothy grin that sparkled in the light. "I can see that Naruto has trained you well."

"You know my sensei, too?" Asa asked. At least now she knew how this guy knew her name.

"Naruto Uzumaki is one of my top rivals!" Lee announced proudly. "And I believe that his students are all destined to become great ninja! But first, I wish to test one of you myself. I will say it once more: do not disappoint me!"

Asa stared at the man. Was he serious? Did he really think that she and the others were destined for greatness? She hung her head, looking at the kunai that she still held in her hand in a loose grip. She closed her eyes and tightened her grip on the knife. She looked back up at Lee, a more determined look in her eyes. "All right," she said. "I'll show you what I've got. I won't disappoint my sensei!"

Lee let a huge grin form on his face. "Then let us truly begin this match!" He charged with his fist raised, ready to deliver a mighty punch.

-o-

"Tunneling Fang!" Kiba shouted as he spun rapidly, launching himself like a torpedo towards Tai, who was only barely able to evade the attack. The Inuzuka drilled through a tree and skidded to a stop on the other side. He held a cocky smirk on his face, which had become incredibly bestial. "Nice dodge kid. But you'll have to do more than evade if you wanna beat me!"

"I know that!" Tai shouted somewhat indignantly. He glared at the adult ninja, trying to find some kind of opening. The dog-man didn't seem to leave very many, and what few either went unnoticed or were closed up too quickly for Tai to use to his advantage. The redhead looked over to where Arashi was. The Jigoku had his hands full with that huge dog, so that ruled out the possibility of a team effort. Not only that, but Asa had been dragged away by some crazy guy in green spandex. Things weren't exactly looking up. _I guess I'll have to use _that _technique,_ he thought as he silently cursed his bad luck.

"Get ready!" Kiba shouted as he sprinted at Tai on all fours. The young genin reached into his pouch and pulled out a small scroll. He ran off to the side as he broke the little seal that kept the scroll closed and pulled it open, then ran through three unique one-handed signs and began to chant something.

"Awaken, O, blade of the Yamada!" he called out. "Rise forth, so thy blessed steel may stay my foes! Stand from thy slumber and bring me victory in this battle!" With that, he was suddenly surrounded by a cloud of smoke, making Kiba stop in surprise. As the cloud slowly dissipated, he could hear Tai say, "Yamada Clan Hidden Technique: Hagane Nayami!" Kiba eyed the magnificently designed blade with a curious look. It looked like a regular katana, but its hilt was made from gold, and its blade from silver. The blade had a stylized dragon head etched into it: the mark of the Yamada Clan, he surmised.

Tai smirked. "Heh. This is my secret weapon I only just recently managed to summon it successfully. Hagane here is a bit lazy, but he gets the job done. Don't ya, Hagane?"

"Of course, fool," said a male voice from seemingly nowhere. It took Kiba a minute to realize that the dragon head on the blade was moving. The sword was _talking_. "Now then, please explain to me why I have been summoned, and I will see if this opponent is worthy of being cut by my steel."

"Didn't I tell you the first time not to call me 'fool'?" Tai stated with evident anger at the word. "Look, I'm fighting a guy from the Inuzuka Clan, okay? Is that good enough for you?"

"The Inuzuka?" Hagane muttered. His metallic eyes soon found Kiba, whose own eyes were still widened in shock at the fact that he was actually seeing and hearing talking sword. "I see. A member of a family of dog lovers. Hmph. I always did prefer cats. Dogs are simply too loud and messy for my liking."

"Does that mean you're willing to help me out?" Tai asked. "I mean, he's a jonin, so I don't stand much of a chance on my own."

"Very well," Hagane said in a slightly pompous tone. "I will allow you to use me for now. But I expect to be fully polished and sharpened later."

"Sounds fair to me," Tai replied with a smirk. He dropped into a fighting stance, ready to continue the battle. "All right! Let's do this!" And with that, he charge forward, talking sword in hand.

-o-

**Translations for the curious:**

**Hagane Nayami: Japanese for "steel bane"**


	20. Triumvirate

Arashi ducked and weaved past the massive dog's attacks, trying almost desperately to find an opening in the great beast's defense. The animal was far more intelligent than he had expected, as it was apparently covering any holes in its defenses with its overpowering size and shocking speed. He quickly leaped out of the way of a bite, then a swipe with its paws. He jumped back as far as he could, landing on a high branch nearby. He took a moment to breathe and try to think up a strategy.

The huge dog growled up at him, turning its head to try and find some way to get up to him. Arashi raised an eyebrow at this. Why didn't it just jump from where it was? It certainly had the muscle and speed to do it. Unless…

His thoughts were interrupted when the dog suddenly began leaping from one branch to the next, rapidly drawing in on him. He jumped back as far as he could, his feet landing on the tree that the branch was on and sticking thanks to chakra. He sprinted up the tree's side as the white ninja hound bounded after him. He looked back, and sure enough, the beast was right behind him, looking ready to claw his face off. He scowled and back-flipped off the tree, falling past the dog and positioning himself to land somewhat safely.

He rolled roughly on the ground, earning a few cuts and bruises from twigs and rocks scattered on the forest floor. He stood a little shakily and drew a kunai out of his holster, along with a slip of paper, which he began to wrap around the knife's hilt.

The dog hit the ground with a loud _crash_, wood and dirt shooting up to show the beast's weight. Arashi's eyes narrowed as he took his stance, prepared for whatever the animal might do. After a few moments of silence, the dog barked – which sounded more like a roar – and charged at full speed. Arashi didn't flinch. He waited as the dog approached him. The canine leaped into the air towards him, baring its fangs.

_NOW!_ Arashi shouted mentally. Suddenly, he was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, which quickly faded to reveal nothing more than a simple log. Out of the bushes directly across from the dog, the real Arashi jumped out and tossed his kunai with expert aim. The dog, still in midair, was unable to dodge the weapon as it lodged itself into its left paw. When the dog landed, it yelped in pain and sent Arashi an angry glare. Arashi smirked as he made a one-handed sign. "Boom."

The hilt of the kunai suddenly glowed. The dog's eyes went wide when it realized what was happening. On the hilt of the weapon was a paper bomb.

The dog was enveloped in the explosion, the only other sound being its cry of shock and pain. As the smoke cleared out, Arashi saw the dog lying on the ground, unconscious, but still very much alive. "Sorry, boy," he said to the dog. "I don't normally try to blow up animals, but you brought this on yourself." With that said, he turned and dashed off to join his teammates.

-o-

Tai swung the blade with shocking expertise, cleaving through wood and even rock with little effort. The whole time, Hagane was complaining that he was going to get nicked if the young redhead kept slashing so haphazardly. Needless to say, Tai didn't listen.

Kiba couldn't believe he was being forced back by a kid. And one of Naruto's students no less! How could the idiot's brats be this tough? He scowled in frustration as he tried to think this through. He would have to try to get that sword out of the kid's hands. That way, he'll be significantly less of a threat. Now he just had to figure out a way to do it.

Hagane grunted as his blade slid through the ground after the Inuzuka evaded Tai's next attack. "Careful!" the living sword complained. "I may be durable, but that doesn't mean I'm invulnerable to mud! It could rust me!"

"Oh, shut up!" Tai shouted back at the blade. He hacked at Kiba again, but the jonin ducked under it and countered with a powerful uppercut straight to Tai's jaw. The blow sent the young genin flying back several feet, but he managed to regain his footing and skidded across the ground. He wiped his wrist across his chin, finding that he had blood trickling down from his mouth.

Kiba smirked at this. "You should quit now, kid. You can't beat me."

Tai looked back up to the jonin. He gave his own cocky smirk. "Sorry, dog-breath, but I'm way too stubborn for that." He gripped Hagane's hilt with both hands. "Hey, Hagane, you think you're up for the First Dance?"

"At your age!?" Hagane yelled at the boy in shock. "You're not ready for that! It requires months, even years of study and training to be able to use it correctly! And don't get me started on your obvious lack of proper swordsmanship!"

"Hey, who's the ninja here!?"

"Clearly not you, fool."

"You oversized letter opener!"

"Tactless dolt!"

Kiba just stared at the boy as he argued… with his sword. Sure, the sword could talk and all, but it was still rather weird to see. He didn't really know what to do or say here. "Do you guys… need a minute or something?"

"What?" Tai asked. "No! We're fine!" He returned his attention to his blade. "Listen, Hagane, we're using the Dance, and that's final! You got that?"

Hagane groaned in annoyance. "Very well. But don't say that I didn't warn you, fool."

"All right!" The young Yamada dropped into a fighting stance again. "Here goes!"

-o-

She was very nearly out of breath. Rock Lee was clearly far stronger than she had expected. His fists had broken through trees and even solid rock with minimal effort. She was forced to take refuge in a bush of leaves on a tree branch while the bowl-haired man searched for her. "You cannot hide forever, Asa Mizuhana!" she heard him call out. "I will find you again, and then we shall have a true battle!"

The silver-haired genin took a deep breath to calm herself. She had to be ready for just about anything. She didn't want to leave this fight with a broken everything. She needed to think up some kind of strategy. From she had seen so far, Rock Lee had only been using taijutsu, and that had been enough to reduce huge boulders to mere pebbles. The idea of him using a ninjutsu or a genjutsu was absolutely terrifying. But maybe she could take advantage of his use of hand-to-hand combat. She took another deep breath as an idea gradually formed in her mind. She pulled a few slips of paper out of her pouch. _I hope this works._

Lee searched and searched for the girl, but she was nowhere to be found. Naruto had clearly trained her and the two boys well. She really knew how a ninja normally took things. She must be in hiding, waiting for just the right moment to strike. He smirked and closed his eyes, letting his ears search for him. He waited. And waited. And waited.

Suddenly, a form leaped out of bunch of leaves behind him. He turned, ready to fight as Asa descended towards him, a kunai in hand. The jonin grinned excitedly and leaped to meet her. "We shall see what you are truly capable of, Asa Mizuhana!" He slammed a fist directly into her gut, forcing her to… explode in a puff of smoke. She was replaced by a short log covered almost completely in paper bombs. His eyes went wide in shock at the sight before…

_BOOM!_

He was very nearly swallowed up by the massive explosion, but was able to evade the blast, if only barely. His jonin vest was heavily singed, and his massive eyebrows had narrowly escaped the resulting heat wave. He looked back up, and his eyes widened again when he saw dozens of kunai flying at him. He jumped back and dodged the knives, and was just about to rush to where they had been thrown from.

"Water Style!" he heard Asa's voice call out. He turned in in surprise to see her behind him, her hands making the monkey hand sign. "Flying Torrent!" She fired a huge blast of water from her mouth, drenching Lee completely pushing him straight through a tree and into another one, where he left a man-shaped crater before the water subsided. Asa wiped her mouth and chin and eyed Lee carefully. He looked somewhat dazed. But he wasn't unconscious.

He looked up at her and let a huge grin form on his face. "That was a most excellent display!" he proclaimed as pulled himself out of the tree and stood as if nothing had happened. "I can see now why Naruto has such faith in you and your friends!"

Asa smiled gratefully. "Thanks, sir," she replied. "Have you seen enough, or do you wanna keep going?"

He thought about it for a few moments. After a few seconds, he shook his head. "You have proven yourself to be very strong! Stronger than you give yourself credit for, I bet. We shall see each other again someday! Count on it!" And just as suddenly as he had appeared, he vanished in a flicker of movement. She gave a sigh of relief. She was glad that he didn't want to continue. Her last attack had left her pretty much drained.

Suddenly, just as she was about to go and find Tai and Arashi, she heard what sounded like a massive wave crashing onto a shore. She faced the direction that the sound had come from; the general direction in which she was about to go to find her friends. Worry quickly took hold as she sprinted forward. She hoped that nobody was hurt.

-o-

His technique worked. Sort of. He had successfully called forth an enormous wave of water that crashed into Kiba, sending the Inuzuka man far out of sight. He had also succeeded in sapping all of his strength and nearly drowning himself. Hagane was right about one thing: the First Dance alone was frighteningly powerful. It almost made him afraid of what the more powerful Dances could do.

"I warned you, fool," Hagane bragged. "You shouldn't have tried it."

"Whatever," Tai said between heavy breaths. "At least… I beat him… right?" Hagane would've rolled his eyes if it was possible, but didn't argue. The boy clearly still had a lot to learn. "I think it's… time for you to… go."

"Yes," Hagane replied. "I believe so. The next time you call me, make sure you're at least a little more mature. I can't stand working with hotheads like you." With that, Hagane Nayami vanished in a puff of smoke, which quickly dissipated. And as if that was their cue, Asa and Arashi arrived just when the smoke cleared.

"Tai!" Asa called to him as she rushed over to his side. "Are you all right?"

"I'm fine," he replied with his trademark cocky grin. "Just a little tired is all."

"Then we should find a safe place to set up camp for the night," Arashi suggested, to which Tai and Asa nodded their agreement. The three of them then ran off to find the ideal place for a campsite.

-o-

Kiba groaned as he walked over to the whimpering Akamaru. Where had that wave come from? He supposed maybe he shouldn't have underestimated that kid. "Damn," he muttered as he sat down next to his dog. "Those kids are way tougher than we thought." Akamaru whined, letting his master know of his agreement.

Just then, Lee appeared before them, a smile on his face. "Naruto's student's all seem to have amazing potential, do you not agree, Kiba?" The Inuzuka snorted in response, but that did nothing to lighten the green-clad jonin's mood. "I am eager to see what they are all truly capable of."

Kiba couldn't help but agree. If that Tai kid could beat him, then who knows? Maybe those three could be the next Sannin, just like Naruto, Sasuke, and Sakura are now. Only time will tell.


End file.
